Principe addresses officials

GOSHEN - The Orange County Water Authority began its 10 month journey into figuring out a countywide solution to its water and infrastructure issues as officials met Wednesday.

The county hired Henningson, Durhan, & Richardson Architecture and Engineering to head the long-term project, which is aimed at addressing ground and surface water supply and demand issues, along with watershed protection, drought management, and long-term effects of climate change.

The Water Authority held its first meeting on the Water Master Plan in Goshen Wednesday to discuss their first priorities, which include information gathering on current water resources in the county, with municipal leaders and the public.

HDR representatives emphasized regionalism in dealing with the county’s water issues, mainly the cities of Newburgh and Middletown, and the surrounding municipalities, said VP Michael Principe.

 “There are the primary growth areas which probably have the greatest need for looking at water resource development to deal with the demand that they expect based on projections in population over the next five to 10 years,” said HDR VP Michael Principe at the kickoff meeting.  “So we are going to look at those areas, and see which projects are in the hopper right now that can be implemented short-term.”

Water Authority Chairwoman Marcia Jacobowitz said the key to implementing the recommendations from the study is coordination with municipalities within the county.

“There’s knowledge that only the municipalities have within their control and information that dates back that they alone have that we will need,” she said.

County Planning Commissioner David Church agreed that municipal involvement is key to carrying out the Water Master Plan, which is due to be released sometime next January by the water authority.