BILL NUMBER: S3444

SPONSOR: HARCKHAM
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the executive law, in relation to
designating Junior lake, Mohansic lake and Sparkle lake as inland water-
ways for the purposes of waterfront revitalization

 
PURPOSE:

Designates Junior, Mohansic and Sparkle lakes as inland waterways for
the purposes of waterfront revitalization

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill adds Junior lake (in the County of Westchester),
Mohansic lake and Sparkle lake as inland waterways to the list of inland
waterways. Section two of the bill provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

              

As the Westchester County Department of Planning noted in it's Compre-
hensive Croton Watershed Water Quality Protection Plan, "from the water
we drink to the water we swim in, it's the community's responsibility to
protect this precious resource." The state's coastal and inland waterway
program includes 47 policies, which communities that are home to an
inland waterway can adopt as part of a local waterfront revitalization
plan for the purposes of protecting this precious resource.

The 1997 Croton Watershed Memorandum of Agreement between New York
State, New York City, the United States Environmental Protection
Agency(EPA), county governments, local governments and environmental
organizations sets forth "policies, regulations and watershed protection
programs that include land acquisition and partnership initiatives to
protect the water quality of New York City's vast public drinking water
supply watershed while accommodating environmentally sensitive economic
growth."

Located within the Croton River watershed, the Muscoot River sub-wat-
ershed area of the Amawalk Watershed Basin was identified in the Croton
Watershed South Stakeholder Report (Bureau of Water Supply, New York
City Department of Environmental Protection, May 2004) as an area
suspected to be of concern regarding pathogens, total suspended solids,
and total phosphorus. This was confirmed during past 303(d) monitoring
by the State Department of Environmental Conservation. The Amawalk
Reservoir is formed by the damming of the river and is a major source of
New York City's drinking water supply.

Only one-third of the basin's 12,578 acres are in Westchester. DEC's
Lower Hudson River Basin Waterbody Inventory/Priority Waterbodies List
for the Croton River watershed, 303(d)/TMDL impairment list, and the
CSLAP program have noted various impairments at Sparkle Lake, Junior
Lake, and Mohansic Lake in Westchester County. In order to achieve the
goals of the Comprehensive Croton Watershed Water Quality Protection
Plan and the Croton Watershed MOA, these waterways must be designated as
inland waterways so the affected communities can prepare local water-
front revitalization plans and address these water quality issues.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

A9639A of 2017-18

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.