Environmental Finance Center, EPA Region 2

Chenango County, New York



Location

Chenango County (population 51,142, 2000 census) is located in upstate New York. The largest community in the County is the City of Norwich (7,355). Additional communities involved in the Source Water Protection Project include the Villages of Afton (836), Greene (1,701), Oxford (1,584), and Sherburne (1,455). Several transient non-community systems are also involved.

Water Supply

There are 29 public water systems including 12 municipal water systems; 11 non-transient non-community systems; and 55 transient non-community systems in the County. All systems except the City of Norwich use groundwater; Norwich uses both groundwater and surface water. The majority of County residents are on private wells, including residents of 19 of the 30 municipalities in the County.

Source Water Assessment

The New York State Department of Health, and its contractors, conducted source water assessments, based on historical and geological data. The EFC and NYS Water Resources Institute are conducting supplemental assessments for several communities in the County.

Local Team

  • An Advisory Committee consisting of representatives from the County Health and Planning Departments, the Rogers Environmental Education Center, the County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Water Resources Institute and the EFC was formed early in the project.
  • The Chenango County Water Operators Council consists of representatives from public and private water systems and members of the Advisory Committee.


Priority Contamination Threats

The Council is in the process of completing supplementary assessments for several systems in the County. Based on a preliminary assessment and information from the NYS Department of Health’s assessments, agricultural runoff is a significant potential contamination source. Additionally, operators are concerned about contaminants entering aquifers through private wells.

Protection Measures

Although the Council has not yet developed its unified protection plan, they have taken several steps toward educating operators about protection methods, including inviting the Farm Service Agency to talk about the Conservation Reserve Enforcement Program, inviting the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to talk about agency policies affecting water quality and quantity in the watershed, sponsoring training sessions for water operators, publish a quarterly newsletter, pursuing funding for educational programs targeted at large and private well owners on the importance of source water protection, and creating a database of equipment municipal systems are willing to loan to each other to build capacity among systems and ensure repairs are completed quickly with a minimum of service interruption.
 Environmental Finance Advisory Board
EPA Environmental Finance Program
EPA Region 6 Drinking Water Program