Maurice Hinchey: “the U.S. watershed protection program is a very significant piece of environmental legislation. It is part of the…”

“the U.S. watershed protection program is a very significant piece of environmental legislation. It is part of the Federal Clean Water Act, itself being one of the most significant pieces of environmental legislation ever addressed by this Congress. The issue here before us is the reauthorization of that New York City watershed protection program, and I urge the Members of this House to support that reauthorization. The Catskill Mountains provide the protection for the New York City water supply system. That protection is a natural system. The reservoir system itself is a natural system. It is gravity-fed. There are no pumps in it at any point along the way. The system itself is unfiltered, one of the few major water supply systems anywhere in the country that remains unfiltered. It is important that it remain so. It is important for some of the reasons that have been mentioned, costs certainly; $8 billion is an extraordinary amount of money. In addition to that, it would require another half a billion dollars a year just to operate the filtration system; but if the filtration system were to be built, that would undermine all of the protections that are inherent in this legislation that provide for natural, safe, pure protection of this water supply system.”