Berry City official urges local control after DEC permits fishing tournaments at protected reservoir
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Summary
Berry City city manager told the Natural Resources & Energy committee that DEC approved fishing tournaments on the Dix Reservoir without notifying the city, creating avoidable trespass conflicts, policing costs and contamination risks; he urged S.224 to give local officials decision-making authority.
Berry City city manager Sterling Castro told the Natural Resources & Energy committee on Jan. 27 that the city’s Thurmond Dix Reservoir — which supplies Berry City’s drinking water — is at risk from recreational events permitted by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) without municipal input.
Castro said the city spends about $2,800,000 annually to operate its water system and that the Dix Reservoir’s treatment plant is a standard facility not designed to remove some contaminants that recreational use can introduce, such as gasoline-related compounds. “We were notified after they had sort of gone down the approval route,” Castro said, describing how DEC issued permits for two tournaments before the city learned about them.
He told the committee the reservoir is relatively small (he cited 588,000,000 gallons) compared with other sources such as Berlin Pond and Lake Champlain, making it more vulnerable to contamination. Castro said the city owns the land around the reservoir up to the waterline and that, because there is no legal public access, approval of events that effectively require crossing private land sets up “a really avoidable conflict” between anglers, police and water-treatment staff.
Castro recounted that one applicant has a history of attempting to access protected reservoirs and that, after DEC approved the events, the city has had to prepare for enforcement and overtime: “These are all going to be overtime shifts. These are all unionized staff,” he said, noting the city is short officers and may need to assign senior staff to cover shifts.
On invasive-species risks, Castro said he had not scoped a precise replacement cost for an intake clogged by zebra mussels but estimated that upgrades to provide advanced treatment capacity could be in the low millions. He cited an example in which another town considered $6 million to $10 million options for a more advanced plant and said an upgrade for Berry City might be in the $3 million–$5 million range.
Castro said Berry City supports limited recreational access — the city maintains two shore fishing access points and issues hunting permits — but objects to large-scale tournaments that are harder to monitor and regulate. He told the committee he is comfortable with bill language that would prevent municipalities from being more lax than the state while allowing localities to be more restrictive.
The committee did not vote on S.224 during the session. Members suggested procedural fixes such as requiring DEC to notify or consult landowners when events are proposed on waters entirely owned by a municipality and discussed whether application language could require event organizers to identify access points and compensate municipalities for security costs. Castro said the city had already increased signage, assigned police shifts and planned to have water-treatment staff on site for the upcoming events.
The committee indicated it will seek additional input, including from DEC and other stakeholders, before moving the bill further.
