Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
This New York City Watershed Agreement has received considerable attention as an
'innovative set of economic alternatives for protecting water quality for one of the
world's largest public water systems' (WWAP, 2003), a 'turning point' for valuing
ecosystems services (Economist, 2005), and 'a prototype of the utmost importance to all
water supply managers' (NRC, 2000). It can be regarded as one of the first payment
schemes for environmental services (PES) and thus is of considerable importance.
Currently, there is much interest in the use of such PES schemes to support water
resources management. PES schemes are flexible compensation mechanisms by which
the providers of environmental services are compensated by users that benefit from these
services. PES schemes in watersheds usually involve the implementation of financial
mechanisms to compensate upstream communities for activities that are expected to
maintain or improve the availability and/or quality of water resources for downstream
uses (Kiersch et al., 2005).
Process leading to the Watershed Agreement
The process leading to the New York City Watershed Agreement was triggered by the
Surface Water Treatment Rules that were issued by the federal Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) in 1989. These rules were meant to ensure the safety of drinking water by
requiring filtration of water from surface water sources, unless it could be proven and
guaranteed that the surface water sources met very high water quality standards. As New
York City was relying on surface water reservoirs for its drinking water, which was
currently not filtered before distribution, the new federal rules implied that the city would
possibly have to build a filtration plant for its drinking water in order to safeguard public
health. This would costs some US$ 6-8 billion, as well as some US$ 300 million in
operating costs annually, according to 1993 New York City estimates (Platt et al., 2000;
NRC, 2000).
In order to avoid filtration, New York City had to show that the high quality of the
water from the watersheds could also be guaranteed for the year to come. Therefore, New
York City started co-operative efforts to protect its watershed together with the local
governments and farmers. In 1992 the Watershed Agricultural Program started as a co-
operative programme between the city's Department of Environmental Protection and
farmers in the watershed. Also in 1992, 'whole community planning' was started as a
platform for negotiations between NYC and the communities on maintenance of water
quality standards.
However, by the end of 1993 the co-operation between New York City and the
watershed communities ended abruptly when New York City presented its proposal for
meeting the filtration avoidance requirements. These plans consisted of new watershed
rules and regulations
2
and the large-scale purchase of lands to prevent further degradation
of water resources in the watershed. These plans were considered unacceptable by the
watershed communities, who feared the plans would impair economic development and
reduce property values. In December 1993 the Coalition of Watershed Towns filed a
lawsuit against New York City to prevent it from executing its plans. This led to an
impasse in efforts to reach an agreement about a watershed management plan which
lasted for over a year, until the Governor of New York State intervened in April 1995
2.
Based on the State Public Health Law, NYC has the authorisation to make watershed rules and
regulations to protect its drinking water supply from contamination, although these rules are
subject to the approval of the State of New York.
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