Residential Water District
Who's affected?
Water for 11% of the homes in the Town of Goshen are supplied by the Consolidated Residential Water District. Until 2024, the five neighborhoods that received municipal water were stand alone districts. That changed in 2024 when the Town consolidated those neighborhoods into one district.
The bill went up
In an effort to make the billing more even, the Town began to charge based on actual usage. This seems fair to me. A family with 5 kids will use more water than a retired couple. It follows that the larger household would pay more because they use more. The sticker shock came on the fixed cost side of the bill. There's no way around this, the cost of doing business has gone up. As I petitioned through the Town during my campaign, I've heard the same thing time and again. It's not so much the cost, it's that the water is unusable! I've seen for myself the brown water that come from the tap in many homes. This is where the Town must do better!
What's the problem?
As it has been explained to me, the underlying aquifer has changed in composition. We are now getting more iron and manganese form the community wells. All water in municipal systems must be treated with chlorine to eliminate bacteria. This is where the problem occurs. When the chlorine mixes with the iron and manganese, it turns black. If you live in the water district, you've seen the problem!
What's the answer?
A green sand filtration system has been successfully installed for the Hambletonian Park and The Heritage neighborhoods. This is great news! Now we need to push for all municipal water to get the same system. I have spoken many times at Town Board meetings for the need to get relief to all residents suffering with bad water. I truly believe that the Board wants this too. I would like to see the Supervisor appoint a Water Czar to lead the effort. The project will be millions of dollars. This means lobbying state and federal officials to get grants for Goshen.
My home is not in the Water District, but I am my Brother's Keeper. If it's bad for my neighbor, it's bad for me. We are stronger together.