Hansen added that a new safe yield figure would likely be calculated later this year as the department weighs raising the capacity at Cooper Lake as part of a state-mandated dam upgrade. She also said that the department would be happy to furnish any new figures requested by the Ulster Town Board, which is serving as lead agency on the environmental review.
Rubin’s report points out that meeting Niagara’s demand for 1.75 MGD would represent a 44.9 percent increase in daily water use and use 29 percent of the city’s entire safe yield. That, Rubin argued, could “limit or preclude” future business expansion in Kingston and the Town of Ulster.
“You’re talking about tying up nearly one third of the available water leaving virtually no reserve in the event of drought,” said Rubin. “You’re basically tying up Kingston’s future.”
The report also raises a number of legal questions based on decisions and agreements dating to the creation of the Cooper Lake reservoir in the 1920s. Rubin’s report suggests that both the Town of Woodstock and New York City have a legal interest in water from the Cooper Lake watershed and thus should have a more significant role in the environmental review. That review, Rubin goes on to write, should include a full airing of water rights issues around the project. Woodstock has never drawn water from Cooper Lake, but according to a 1926 agreement, it maintains the right to access water from the watershed.
“It is important that the Town of Woodstock reserve and not forfeit, diminish or jeopardize water supply options that may one day be needed.” Rubin writes.
Buck said the report had been forwarded to a number of local and state officials and would be included in the public record of the environmental review for the Niagara project. He added that he hoped the information would lead to a more critical examination of potential impacts from the proposal.
“We just felt that everybody needed to know the facts,” said Buck. “We want local decision-makers to know what’s going on so they can act on it.”
