The New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the Watershed Agricultural Council on Aug. 5 announced a $92-million contract to continue protecting water quality and promoting working landscapes in the NYC watershed through 2025.
The New York City watershed, which serves nearly half the population of the state, is partly made up of the Catskill and Delaware watersheds in Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster and portions of Putnam and Westchester counties east of the Hudson River, according to the DEC’s website. These watersheds provide about 90 percent of New York City’s daily water consumption.
The contract, among other things, allows additional funding to accelerate implementation of best management practices on farms; expansion of the Nutrient Management Credit Program, which gives financial incentives to farmers who follow a plan for the spreading of manure and/or fertilizer on their fields to minimize nutrient runoff into nearby streams; and the development of a pilot program to preserve buffer lands along streams, creeks and rivers. | READ MORE
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