UPDATE: WJWW Presents Proposed Land Swap to Westchester County Board of Legislators on September 26, 2023.

On September 26, 2023, WJWW presented the proposed land swap needed for WJWW to build a proposed water filtration plant on a site adjoining Westchester County Airport, to a joint meeting of the Westchester County Board of Legislators’ Environment, Energy & Climate and the Public Works & Transportation Committees. The Board of Legislators must approve this land swap between WJWW and the County for WJWW to build there. The meeting was an important step in the process to build the Plant, which is needed to control levels of disinfection byproducts, specifically Haloacetic Acids (HAA5s) that have been found at elevated levels in WJWW’s water distribution system. The Plant is required to comply with New York State and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Orders.

Providing safe drinking water is a complex process.

Given the many threats – natural and man-made – to public water sources, it is paramount to implement appropriate technologies and safeguards to help deliver safe drinking water. Over time, climate change, population growth and increased human activity have adversely affected surface water sources for drinking water by increasing levels of organic matter. The naturally occurring organic matter reacts with chlorine used for disinfection, leading to the formation of potentially harmful levels of disinfection by-products, including haloacetic acids, or HAA5 as they are commonly called. Filtration is needed to remove organic matter before chlorination to reduce the formation of these disinfection by-products.

At Westchester Joint Water Works (WJWW), your health is our No. 1 priority, and we are committed to providing safe drinking water to our consumers.

Traces of HAA5 have been detected in WJWW’s water supply system. Although this does not constitute an immediate health hazard, we are taking proactive steps to remediate their presence and comply with state and federal orders. WJWW has a plan in place to build a Water Filtration Plant for our Rye Lake water source. The filtration plant will remove naturally occurring organic matter, restore disinfection efficiency and thereby keep disinfection by-products, such as HAA5, under control.

The proposed Rye Lake Water Filtration Plant would be located near the Rye Lake water supply in the Town/Village of Harrison adjacent to the Westchester County Airport.

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