Bonds may fund Westchester water upgrades under consent decree

The water utility serving Harrison and Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, agreed to build a $138 million filtration plant by July 2029 and take steps to protect the water quality to 120,000 residents, under a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and federal prosecutors.

The agreement, announced Monday, resolved allegations that the municipalities and the Westchester Joint Water Works violated the federal safe drinking water law in 2019 and failed to build a filtration plant by a specific deadline. 

Drinking water supplied by the water works to the New York City suburbs allegedly exceeded federal limits on potentially cancer-causing disinfection byproducts resulting from water treatment, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Under the agreement, Harrison and Mamaroneck will pay their share of plant through the issuance of bonds, bond anticipation notes or a loan agreement with the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation.

“Public water systems have the critical responsibility of ensuring that our communities have safe drinking water,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the release. “Thanks to today’s settlement, Westchester Joint Water Works will finally construct a long-delayed drinking water filtration facility to protect the Westchester County communities it serves.”

The Westchester Joint Water Works also agreed to pay $1.25 million in civil penalties to the federal government and New York State and spend $7.7 million on water quality projects. 

WJWW supplies water to portions of the cities of Rye and New Rochelle and sells water on a wholesale basis to Rye, and the villages of Larchmont, Rye Brook and Port Chester.