Hudson Valley has $1 billion water infrastructure need
October 18, 2016
Riverkeeper Team
A new report today identified $1 billion in needed water infrastructure investments in the Hudson Valley alone. It calls on state leaders to invest $800 million next year in community water infrastructure grants, and to make permanent the New York State Water Infrastructure Improvement Act. For the purposes of the report, the Hudson Valley was defined as Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Sullivan, Dutchess and Ulster counties.
The report, The Water Infrastructure Investment Gap for New York State's Future: Clean Water Infrastructure Needs for Communities in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley found that the existing state grant program, as successful as it has been, has funded just 30% of requests from communities for assistance in funding water infrastructure projects. It also documents many communities in need of assistance have not yet applied.
The grants program has been important in starting many of the water infrastructure projects active in the Hudson Valley, with a total value of $250 million.
Riverkeeper and a coalition of organizations endorsed the report, which was authored by the Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley, and the Construction Advancement Institute of Westchester & Mid-Hudson.
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