Why Water?
Nothing is more critical to a region's economic sustainability than its water supply. And yet the fragile water supplies for all our towns are being compromised by antiquated waste-management systems and sprawl.
Mt. Kisco's sole source of water, Byram Lake, continues to be at risk because of the Seven Springs development plans. The Town of Bedford is facing steep costs for water filtration because of contaminated aquifers, yet some parts of town have been waiting for more than 100 years for remediation. Across the district, private wells are contaminated from septic nitrates and commercial chemicals; our lakes in North Salem and Lewisboro are now unsuitable for swimming and other recreation because of pollution and there are even days when the water is unsafe to drink in some of our schools. Many of our homeowners are unable to improve the economic potential of their homes because of restrictions on adding even one bathroom. Further, our small businesses and homeowners often face crushing fees to continually pump and maintain antiquated septic systems, while others are unaware their septic systems are failing.
This is a result of neglecting our infrastructure far too long -- a serious issue we need to address now. The failure to act will have dire consequences on our economic viability into the future. If you think your property taxes are high now, imagine the cost if we continue to degrade our public and private water sources and have to pump clean water to our homes and businesses from outside the region?
But residents don't have to face this daunting challenge alone. Drawing on existing models from other regions of the state, we can leverage state, federal, county and New York City money to address these challenges. During the course of the campaign I will present comprehensive initiatives to assist homeowners and small businesses maintain and repair septic systems, help our towns find the resources they need to address waste-management issues and demonstrate how we can protect our fragile water supplies. Nothing we do can be more important.
Mt. Kisco's sole source of water, Byram Lake, continues to be at risk because of the Seven Springs development plans. The Town of Bedford is facing steep costs for water filtration because of contaminated aquifers, yet some parts of town have been waiting for more than 100 years for remediation. Across the district, private wells are contaminated from septic nitrates and commercial chemicals; our lakes in North Salem and Lewisboro are now unsuitable for swimming and other recreation because of pollution and there are even days when the water is unsafe to drink in some of our schools. Many of our homeowners are unable to improve the economic potential of their homes because of restrictions on adding even one bathroom. Further, our small businesses and homeowners often face crushing fees to continually pump and maintain antiquated septic systems, while others are unaware their septic systems are failing.
This is a result of neglecting our infrastructure far too long -- a serious issue we need to address now. The failure to act will have dire consequences on our economic viability into the future. If you think your property taxes are high now, imagine the cost if we continue to degrade our public and private water sources and have to pump clean water to our homes and businesses from outside the region?
But residents don't have to face this daunting challenge alone. Drawing on existing models from other regions of the state, we can leverage state, federal, county and New York City money to address these challenges. During the course of the campaign I will present comprehensive initiatives to assist homeowners and small businesses maintain and repair septic systems, help our towns find the resources they need to address waste-management issues and demonstrate how we can protect our fragile water supplies. Nothing we do can be more important.
