Land swap clears path for required water filtration plant, town chair says

The chair of the Town Board said Jan. 22 that Westchester Joint Water Works and the county closed on a long-running land swap that will allow the utility — of which the town is a member — to build a required water filtration plant.

"Today, Westchester Joint Water Works and the County closed on the land swap that we've been working on for I don't know how many years, which will then enable us, Westchester Joint Water Works, of which the town is a part, to build the required water filtration plant," the chair said. He added that the plant is mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New York State Department of Health and described the closing as "the first step in our complying with the settlement, that we reached to avoid $200,000,000 worth of fines."

The chair said the town is currently ahead of its settlement benchmarks but cautioned that construction can bring unforeseen problems. "I never say construction won't have any problems, but we'll have as few problems as possible," he said.

Town officials did not provide a construction schedule or detailed financing at the meeting. The chair framed the land swap as an administrative milestone that clears a major legal and site-related obstacle to building the filtration facility; no vote was required on the announcement itself.

The report did not specify timelines for design, permitting, or construction, nor did officials present a detailed budget for the plant at this meeting. Town residents and other stakeholders who want more detail were told to watch for subsequent staff briefings and formal agenda items that will carry any required authorizations or funding requests.

The town's statement placed the action in the context of regulatory compliance: according to the chair, the filtration plant is part of a settlement with state and federal health regulators intended to avoid significant penalties that were discussed at the meeting.