By Doug LaRocque
Using the Tomhannock Reservoir for Hoosick Falls drinking water was part of Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin’s first State of the County Address delivered last Wednesday, January 10, to the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce. His address centered on economic development as well as protecting the environment.
In that regard, he indicated he would be asking both state and local officials to look into building a pipeline from the Tomhannock Reservoir, located in Pittstown and owned by the City of Troy, to Hoosick Falls, as a method of coping with the PFOA contamination of the local drinking water supply.
Several other sources of clean drinking water have also been idenified and are being researched. Often mentioned are the Wysocki farm along Route 22 and possible tapping into the village of Bennington, Vermont’s water system. A New York State report on alternative sources of drinking water is due out shortly.
Meanwhile, the Village of Hoosick Falls is now operating on a carbon filtration system with non-detect levels of PFOAs. Many homes in Hoosick and Petersburgh now have private filtration systems on their personal wells as well. There was no price tag given for a system to bring water from the Tomhannock to Hoosick Falls.
The County Executive also used his address to focus on what he labeled as infrastructure investment and called for cooperation countywide to attract new business and expand the tax base. He identified many corridors of opportunity, that included NY Route 7 through Brunswick and Routes 9 and 20 in Schodack. He also referenced the three million dollars the county spent on road improvements in 2017 and was hopeful of taking advantage of some proposed federal infrastructure investments.Environment was another topic in Mr. McLaughlin’s address, as he noted he recently signed into law legislation approved by the County Legislature to protect residents around the Dewey Loeffel Landfill Superfund Site in Nassau.
Mr. McLaughlin took office on January 1, after winning a republican primary and the November general election, to replace longtime County Executive Kathy Jimino.