Drought spurs tighter limits on water use
The Cold Spring Village Board, at its Wednesday (Nov. 6) meeting, elevated the Stage 1 water emergency it declared on Oct. 4 to Stage 2 because of drought conditions.
Mayor Kathleen Foley said the village reservoirs have dropped to 59.8 percent capacity, down from 67 percent a week earlier. Drinking water for Cold Spring and Nelsonville comes from two reservoirs located in the North Highlands off Lake Surprise Road that rely on rainfall and surface runoff.
“When we get down to 45 percent, we will have to begin drawing water from the Catskill Aqueduct” through an emergency connection created in 2022, she said.
The Catskill Aqueduct begins at the Ashokan Reservoir 14 miles west of Kingston and supplies water to New York City. The underground, gravity-fed tunnel passes under the Hudson River at Breakneck Ridge, then flows south past Nelsonville, just east of the intersection of Route 301 and Fishkill Road.
If Cold Spring needs to tap into the system, it will pay New York City $2,450 per 1 million gallons of water, Foley said. The village uses about 300,000 gallons per day, so “that ends up being about $1,000 per day for water,” she said. “Everybody needs to conserve water in every way you can possibly think of.”
The emergency declaration bans washing vehicles and buildings or hosing down sidewalks. Residents cannot fill pools or hot tubs or water lawns or landscape features. Fruit and vegetable gardens should be irrigated using handheld containers. Restaurants and bars should provide drinking water only on request and hotels and short-term rentals should wash linens only on request.
In other business…
■ The board discussed asking the state Department of Transportation to install an on-demand, pedestrian-activated sign or light on Route 9D at the crosswalk located near the Butterfield redevelopment project.
■ The board accepted a $98,545 bid from a Poughkeepsie firm for paving on Cedar Street, Benedict Avenue and The Boulevard.
