Dozens attend water hearing

GLENFIELD — A group of area residents, most from the town of Greig, on Thursday flooded state Department of Environmental Conservation officials with potential effects of a proposed bulk-water operation.

"Our town is dependent on that water," Greig Town Supervisor Marilyn E. Patterson said during the first of two public scoping sessions held at the 3-G fire hall.

The sessions were held as part of the state environmental quality review of the Hidden Falls Spring Water project, proposed by John T. and Lynn L. Smoke, Bangor, Pa.

The Smokes are proposing to build a bulk-water distribution center off Burdicks Crossing Road in the town of Turin and construct a water line under the Black River connecting a spring on their property off Sweeney Road in the town of Greig with the proposed building. The projected maximum flow would be 288,000 gallons per day.

Project manager Arnold W. Swiernik, Constableville, gave the approximately 60 people in the audience an overview of the proposal and answered audience questions with DEC officials. Then, people were asked to identify potentially significant environmental impacts that should be addressed in the project's draft environmental impact statement.

Mr. Swiernik said that the water bubbles out of the ground at the proposed water source and that four shallow wellheads were installed several years ago simply to collect the flow that comes to the surface.

"Everybody has the misconception that we're pumping," he said. "We're not pumping."

When asked about potential for the project to drop water levels on Brantingham and Pleasant lakes, both Mr. Swiernik and Mark A. Wiggins, an environmental analyst at DEC's Watertown office, said that hydrogeologic studies suggested there should be no such impact.

However, one speaker asked that DEC still require that concrete evidence of that be included in the environmental review.

Several people also said a plan to test the project's impact on private wells within one mile of the wellhead area was not extensive enough.

"I think it should be a five-mile radius, at least," Mrs. Patterson said.

Other suggestions included looking at cumulative impacts if another large water user tapped into the same aquifer, projecting the project's impact in drought conditions, studying tractor-trailers' impact on air quality and roads and checking for any storm runoff or archaeological issues.

Several people also asked for some assurances that the local water supply won't be drained and that the Smokes don't take more than their permitted amount.

"That's a concern I share," Mr. Wiggins said.

He said DEC officials are doing what they can to ensure that all potential negative effects are studied and mitigated.

However, the department is not authorized to regulate private water operations as stringently as it does municipal systems, Mr. Wiggins said.

The main reason DEC is involved in the Smoke project now is because of the relatively new proposal to run a pipe under the river, he said.

For the better part of the decade, the Smokes have been working to develop a facility for collection, bulk storage and shipment of spring water in Greig. Following a public outcry against the project by many Greig residents, the Town Council and Planning Board both rejected the Smokes' plans.

That led to new plans being submitted last year to site the building in the town of Turin instead.

The Lewis County Planning Board in October approved a special permit request for the building, but the Turin town Planning Board still must give its approval.

Written scoping comments may still be sent through Sept. 11 to Mr. Wiggins by mail at 317 Washington St., Watertown N.Y. 13601, by fax at 785-2242 or by e-mail at mawiggin@gw.dec.

state.ny.us.