PUTNAM VALLEY – Riverkeeper representatives Dan Sharpley and Jem Pickard delivered a message to residents and officials in Putnam Valley when discussing the town’s watershed: “Protecting Putnam Valley’s lakes requires a watershed-wide approach involving municipalities, lake associations, homeowners, and state agencies while improving water quality that will require a combination of better stormwater management, improved septic maintenance and replacement, continued scientific monitoring, public education, and stronger regional cooperation.”
The pair presented preliminary findings from an ongoing watershed study funded through the Hudson River Estuary Program during the Commission of Lakes meeting.
A key message throughout the presentation was that Putnam Valley’s lakes are interconnected since water from Lake Peekskill, Lake Oscawana, Roaring Brook Lake, nearby Mohegan Lake, and others eventually flows into the Peekskill Hollow Brook which serves as the primary drinking water source for some 25,000 residents in addition to providing backup water for neighboring municipalities. Protecting local lakes benefits not only recreation but also regional drinking water.
Algae blooms have severely affected the region this summer.
Sharpley and Pickard identified phosphorus as the main nutrient fueling harmful algae blooms.
The presenters also discussed impacts on drinking water. Although Peekskill’s water currently meets all Safe Drinking Water Act standards, Riverkeeper noted increasing trends in disinfection byproducts that form when chlorine reacts with organic material from algae. They stressed this is an emerging concern—not a current public health violation—but one worth addressing proactively.
Riverkeeper emphasized that no single solution will solve the problem and that each community faces different constraints. Rather than recommending one approach, Riverkeeper presented examples used elsewhere, including septic inspections during home sales; financial incentives for replacing failing septic systems; group “pump-out days” to reduce maintenance costs; expansion of New York’s Septic Replacement Program and the formation of local septic management districts, similar to one being developed in Lewisboro.
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