Westchester Joint Water Works and its member municipalities (Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck and Town/Village of Harrison) have entered into a federal consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and New York State Department of Health that sets forth a schedule to build a Filtration Plant for WJWW’s Rye Lake water source.

 

The consent decree provides for the installation of the best available technology for achieving compliance with the maximum contaminant levels for disinfection byproducts and with State law requiring the filtration of drinking water taken from a surface water source. Under the consent decree, the Filtration Plant is to be constructed by March 1, 2029 and operational by July 1, 2029.

 

Click here to view a copy of the consent decree.

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.