A controversial plan by United Water - Suez to use treated Hudson River water for residents to drink
will be the subject of a film screening and panel discussion on:
DATE: Thursday, April 30, 2009
TIME: 7pm Film; 8:30pm Panel
LOCATION: Clarkstown Town Hall
10 Maple Avenue
New City, NY
Rockland residents will hear from a coalition of national, regional and local environmental
organizations and from civic groups concerned with such issues as pollutants in the Hudson, rising
energy use, overdevelopment and costs to ratepayers and taxpayers -- all related to desalination and
water treatment The program will begin with a screening of the acclaimed documentary, “FLOW: For
Love of Water”, followed at 8:30 p.m. by a panel discussion of the proposed desalination plant.The
panel will include representatives of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Food and Water Watch,and
Riverkeeper, with Ned Sullivan, Executive Director of Scenic Hudson, as moderator.
United Water New York's proposal to supply Rockland residents with drinking water from the Hudson
River has given rise to a range of concerns. With the proposed siting of the plant almost directly
across the river from Indian Point nuclear power plant, which has been leaking strontium 90 and
tritium into the river, adjacent to the closed Haverstraw Landfill and with GE's planned dredging of
river PCBs, many have cited health severe concerns. Environmentalists and business owners are
concerned that desalination and filtration, a highly energy-intensive and expensive process, would
unnecessarily drive up customer water rates and Rockland property taxes and further contribute to
climate change. Environmentalists are also extremely concerned with the proposed desalination and
filtration plant's affect on the fragile Hudson River ecosystem – in addition to the expanded potential of
an unlimited water supply inducing more unlimited and unsustainable development in Rockland and inour region.
The Rockland Coalition for Sustainable Water, which is presenting the program, was formed
to take a critical look at the impacts of the proposal to treat water from the Hudson River for drinking
water and to advocate sustainable water management policies, such as conservation, in Rockland
County. Program sponsors include the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson,
as well as a number of national, regional and local members of the Rockland Coalition for Sustainable
Water, including Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Food and Water Watch, Nanuet Civic
Association, Preserve Ramapo, Rockland RAFT, Ramapo River Watershed Intermunicipal Council,
Ramapo River Committee, Rockland Sierra Club, Stony Point Action Committee for the Environment
(SPACE), Torne Valley Preservation Association and West Branch Conservation Association.
CONTACT INFO:
George Potanovic, Jr.(845) 429-2020 or e-mail: georgep123@optonline.net
Peggy Kurtz (845) 358-3386 or email: pkurtz9@gmail.com