I joined United States Senator Charles Schumer at a news conference this morning at the Greenburgh Highway garage. The Senator announced an effort to help local governments obtain federal funding to upgrade and maintain local sewer infrastructure. Municipalities in Westchester are suffering from aging sewer systems. The Senator announced a proposal to increase federal funding to help modernize the state’s deteriorating sewerage infrastructure. Federal help for improving sewer systems is currently at an all time low. This leaves towns and cities across Westchester County, which tend to get hit by severe storm flooding, hard pressed to protect residential property and bodies of water from overflow due to inadequate sewerage. There have been instances around the region where sewage spilled into local waterways and homeowners’ properties. The Senator feels that the federal government should work with local and state governments to maintain first rate water treatment systems. In May, a four foot sewer main in Yonkers broke, spilling millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Hudson River and forcing the nearby wetlands to soak up the majority of the mess. The main was built in the 1930s.
I am very pleased that the Senator is seeking to help local governments address this problem. Without federal help, the costly price of replacing sewers will become a major strain on local budgets.
PAUL FEINER
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