Mid Hudson Times Oct. 10 2018 | Page 3

3 Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, October 10, 2018 New Windsor dedicates Butter Hill Treatment Plant By WAYNE A. HALL When officials recently found a new source of fresh, clean water for the town of New Windsor, 400 feet down and under 100 feet of clay, town Supervisor George Green declared the town had struck gold. And thus he has declared its independence on the town’s long-time source for water, the New York City Aqueduct, which is shutting down for repairs and urged New Windsor to find a substitute Green and his water engineers had already been looking. They have found the super substitute, a processing plant they’ve built on the Butter Hill Waste Water Treatment Plant in New Windsor. Last week, the town just celebrated opening a 5,500 square foot water treatment plant on Forge Hill Road to process the bounty of uncontaminated water discovered deep in the ground. It’s taken years of searching to find this kind of abundant, clean and accessible water, said Green. It was Green and some of his friends and town workers who over past years reached high and low to find the right water fit for New Windsor to modernize the town’s water system. Green was ecstatic during a recent celebration of water independence at the new plant. He specially thanked those who rode around the town many times to find alternate sources of suitable water for the town. It’s a gleaming, white and gray plant inside with huge white and red marked Richard D. McGoey whose consulting firm did extensive mechanical and other planning for the town of New Windsor’s Butter Hill water treatment facility, inspects the work last week. processing equipment. This new state of the art system has the ability to deliver 6.4 million gallons of water a day into distribution, more than double the current need of the town. The new plant has been tested and found no evidence of cancer-causing PFOs and PFOAs such as those that shut down Washington Lake as a Newburgh city drinking water reservoir. Deputy New York City water department spokesman Adam Bosch said the aqueduct cleansing project “is a huge deal that we’ve been talking to them about so we could do what we need to do to clean out the aqueduct.” And New Windsor didn’t need to be told again by New York City water officials to get a move on to find another source of water. The new New Windsor treatment plant is up and running. The aqueduct is shutting down in several weeks. New Windsor officials were way ahead of the city time li ne, said Green outside the glittering new water treatment building on Forge Hill Road. Hailed as the best water available, the Catskill Aqueduct System is renowned for the quality of its water. But the new $24 million new plant will produce equal results if not better, town officials said. “I do have to thank a lot of people,” added Green, who, years ago, began the search for alternate source of water for the constantly growing town of New Windsor. “This is 12 years of my life dedicated to this building,” said Green. Truly though this was a team effort he described whose start was some years ago when Green planned for a new water source, traveling around various bodies of local water that would serve the town’s needs. But none really fit the bill. So the decision was made to build one and treat the water in a town run plant. “We did it together and you see the results,” said Green, with a nod to the gleaming plant that’s got enough capacity for processing 20 million gallons a day. The town will no longer pay two million dollars a year for New York City aqueduct water. It was Green’s decision to get off the Catskill Aqueduct. The New Windsor treatment plant was a key to construction. “I have to thank a lot of people,” said Green giving thanks to getting this building done. “And you see the results.” A big nod goes to the consulting engineers, McGoey, Hauser and Edsall, said Green. Independent testing shows the town treated water meets or exceeds federal and local water standards. And Green used union labor. “The supervisor came to us with with a labor agreement to use union labor and importantly is was done on time,” said Local 17 of the Laborers Union Business Manger Todd DiOrio. Mount instituting new protocol for mold detection By KATELYN CORDERO [email protected] The Freshmen girls at Mount Saint Mary College had a memorable first month on campus as their dorm hall was evacuated a month into the semester. Sakac Hall was closed down on September 23 due to mold found in the building. The school has placed students in various locations, out of the 214 students a majority were placed in hotels in Newburgh and Fishkill from September 23 until September 28. Their belongings were to be stored in storage units on campus. For Elizabeth Ellsworth a member of the women’s soccer team it was Sakac Hall on the campus of Mount Saint Mary College was evacuated after the discovery of mold on Sept. 23. aggravating because there was no say in where she or her teammates were placed. Some girls on the team were placed in Fishkill about 20 minutes away from campus. “I was placed in a hotel in Fishkill,” said Kayla Davis, a freshman on the women’s soccer team. “I asked to stay on campus because it was not possible for me to travel back and forth to make it to campus on time for practice and my classes. They were unhelpful. I was lucky I was able to trade my spot with some other girls. Other girls on the team have been sleeping on people’s floors because the trip is too far, or there is not a shuttle Continued on page 22