Editorial from The Record of Bergen County, NJ:
The fight to save the Stanley M. Levine Reservoir in Paterson is not going well. The federal Environmental Protection Agency is backing a plan to drain the reservoir and replace it with concrete tanks. As we have been saying for years now: There must be a better way.
The Passaic Valley Water Commission has to comply with federal water standards, which require utilities to either cover or retreat drinking water stored in open-air reservoirs to prevent fecal contamination by birds and other wildlife, as Staff Writer Richard Cowen reported. Three other area open-air reservoirs in the area are also affected by this regulation. We have advocated for all to remain open-air and not be replaced by tanks.
Photo simulations of the site from various angles are not taking into account the change of seasons, the loss of foliage from trees and the effects the tanks would have on all the views from the Great Falls park as it comes fully into being. These are not small concerns.
Several years ago, activists on both sides of the Hudson objected to a design for LG’s headquarters atop the Palisades. The building would be visible above the tree line of the Palisades. While it seemed a Sisyphean exercise against a major corporation, it was not. LG listened to the concerns, rethought the project and found a solution.
Private industry is more receptive to pushback than federal bureaucracy, but we hope that while there is still a chance for a federal agency to put a halt to the draining of the Levine Reservoir, clearer eyes will look at what is at stake.
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