The Hudson River

Fiction: The Hudson River is too polluted to be used for drinking water.

Fact: According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Hudson River is one of the healthiest estuaries on the Atlantic Coast, and over a dozen communities have relied on the river as a drinking water source for many years.

The Proposed Project’s location on the Hudson River, and its use of Hudson River water as a water supply, is based on extensive monitoring and analysis.

Hudson River water collected near the proposed intake compares favorably with other water treatment plant withdrawals on the Hudson River, as well as other major rivers used for drinking water sources.

A state-of-the-art purification process used in a test, pilot facility is already producing water that meets or surpasses all federal and state safe drinking water standards and THE RESULTS ARE IN!

Fiction: Indian Point has polluted the river with dangerous nuclear materials.

Fact: United Water has tested water on the Hudson River since 2008, finding only very low levels of radionuclides (including tritium), if any at all, that are far below safe drinking water standards. As is the case for any surface water source, United Water will monitor water in the river before it reaches the treatment facility. If there is a change in water quality on the river, treatments can be adjusted or the facility can be temporarily shutdown. Reverse osmosis membranes that will be employed in the treatment facility are considered, according to the EPA, the best technology available to treat a wide range of radionuclides.

Fiction: Industrial pollutants, such as PCBs, make Hudson River water unfit for drinking.

Fact: Most of the Hudson River's major PCB contamination (and the site of the GE cleanup) is near Albany, many miles from United Water's proposed facility and will have little to no effect on water treatment in Rockland County. If there is a change in water quality on the river, treatments can be adjusted or the facility temporarily shutdown. In the event that natural or man-made contaminants like PCBs were to reach the intake, the treatment facility will use a combination of standard water treatment processes and reverse osmosis to remove them. The water produced will be continuously tested and monitored to ensure that it meets or surpasses all safe drinking water standards.

Fiction: Droughts are not an important consideration, as they rarely occur in Rockland County.

Fact: The new long-term water supply project must improve the reliability of the water supply system while meeting future demands by introducing a supply that is less dependent on localized precipitation conditions. The Northeast U.S. experiences a short-term drought (i.e., a drought with a duration of one to three months) every one to three years on average, and experiences longer droughts (i.e., greater than three months) once every 20 to 30 years. A long-term water supply project should be developed to be responsive to the occurrence of drought events and the potential effects of climate change on the frequency and severity of droughts and storm events.

Rockland County is currently served by groundwater supplies and reservoirs. The Haverstraw Water Supply Project would improve the reliability of the water supply system while meeting future demands for water by providing a supply of water that is less dependent on climate conditions. Including a drought-tolerant river source adds to the diversity of the water supply portfolio and provides greater flexibility in managing the system.