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By Brian Smith - March 13, 2024
Under Gov. Kathy Hochul’s leadership, New York has been a national leader in funding the protection of clean water, but now is not the time to rest on our laurels. Given the massive clean water needs that exist throughout New York, it’s perplexing that the governor proposed to slash clean water funding by 50%, from $500 million down to $250 million, in this year’s budget.
Investments made in WNY through the New York Clean Water Infrastructure Act (CWIA) have helped to reduce harmful sewage overflows into our Great Lakes, remove toxic chemicals from drinking water, replace dangerous lead drinking water pipes, and much more — all while creating thousands of good-paying jobs.
While we’ve made progress, there is much more work to do to ensure safe and affordable water for all New Yorkers. The $5 billion invested in the CWIA since 2017 is commendable but is only a drop in the bucket of what is needed. Our state estimates it needs $80 billion to upgrade aging and failing wastewater and drinking water infrastructure over 20 years. This enormous estimate is conservative, as it doesn’t include the cost of complying with forthcoming federal regulations.
A pending federal rule will require New York to replace approximately 500,000 lead drinking water pipes by 2037. 60% of Buffalo’s water service lines are estimated to contain lead and will need to be replaced at a cost of nearly half a billion dollars. There is no safe level of exposure to lead in drinking water, especially for our children. While necessary to protect public health, it will cost billions of dollars to replace all the state’s lead pipes.
The federal government is also expected to finalize strengthened standards to reduce PFAS chemicals, which are linked to cancer, in drinking water. As a result of stronger standards, 296 additional communities throughout NYS are estimated to need treatment technology to remove these chemicals, and it won’t come cheap.
Clean water is a necessity, not a luxury item that should be sacrificed during difficult budget years. When we look at the size of the overall state budget, clean water funding barely equates to a small rounding error. Cutting funding for clean water will do nothing to balance our budget, but it will threaten the quality and affordability of our drinking water, while thwarting job creation and local economic development.
New York’s clean water needs are going up, not down. Funding allocated to clean water in the state budget should reflect this reality. That’s why numerous environmental groups, wastewater treatment operators, drinking water suppliers, unions and state legislators are not only rejecting the governor’s proposed cut, but are calling for a modest increase in funding to $600 million in this year’s state budget.
Brian Smith is associate executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.