A coalition of groups pushing to rebuild New York’s rundown water systems chose Rochester today to launch a statewide public awareness campaign.
Rebuild NY Now was hosted by County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo at the Monroe County Office Building and with the support of the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce. Rebuild NY Now includes everyone from environmentalists to construction unions.
CEO Mike Elmendorf points to regular water main breaks and the chemical contamination of the Hoosick Falls village water system near Albany to showcase what the group calls a “dire state of disrepair” in New York’s municipal water systems.
Together with a bipartisan group of elected officials, they called for a massive state investment in water systems.
The New York Society of Civil Engineers reported two years ago that New York has more than 10,100 regulated public water systems serving 20 million people. Repairing and updating all of them to modern standards would take $38.7 billion over 20 years.