United Water New York’s Proposed Desalination Plant

In September 2007, United Water New York (UWNY) submitted a “preliminary conceptual design” to the state Public Service Commission proposing the construction of a desalination plant on the Hudson River. UWNY, which supplies most of Rockland County’s drinking water, plans to withdraw millions of gallons of water from the Hudson each day, use state-of-the-art technology to treat it, and sell it back to residents as drinking water.

UWNY applied for a Special Permit to construct a pilot plant to be located at 710 Beach Road, the site of U.S. Gypsum, which will be used for data collection and research for its proposed large scale desalination facility. The Town of Haverstraw quickly passed a resolution that this application was exempt from the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) which requires the approving governmental body to identify and mitigate the significant environmental impacts of the activity it is approving or permitting, and to evaluate all reasonable alternatives. Haverstraw Bay, where the pilot plant’s intake would be located, is an important estuarine habitat and nursery area for many key Hudson River fish species. It has been designated by the NYS Department of State as a “significant coastal fish and wildlife habitat” that warrants all possible protections under SEQRA and other applicable laws.

The Town Board of Haverstraw held a public meeting to review the UWNY Special Permit Application for the pilot plant. The Town of Haverstraw is proceeding quickly with the approval process of UWNY’s pilot plant, and also, possibly, the siting of the permanent desalination plant. Riverkeeper submitted two letters it had written to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as its comments to the Town of Haverstraw for inclusion in the record of the public meeting for the Special Permit for UWNY’s proposed pilot plant. Riverkeeper is calling for a complete review of the need for UWNY’s desalination plant, a complete analysis of all alternatives for increasing Rockland’s water supply, and a thorough study of potential adverse environmental impacts to the area and the Hudson River, which would be caused by the desalination plant.

There hasn’t yet been the required “hard look” at alternatives to the desalination plant: the creation of a new surface water supply reservoir, additional groundwater use, increased use of Lake DeForest, reuse of wastewater, and use of Suffern Quarry. Riverkeeper is urging all parties involved to study the use of conservation and green infrastructure to manage and reuse stormwater, and include these approaches in the analysis of alternatives to increase Rockland’s water supply.

Desalination plants have adverse environmental impacts on wildlife, causing injury and mortality to fish and other aquatic biota from water intake structures; adverse impacts on water quality from brine discharge; impacts on sensitive ecological areas from construction and siting; and result in increased emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants from the enormous amounts of electricity used during plant operation. Desalination plants also raise questions about the water quality for human consumption and higher water rates for customers.