Water for New York I

About the Book

Water for New York, tells the story of the development and use of the waters of New York State and the impact that this had on the state and the nation. A multitude of factors are integrated into a mosaic that lends clarity and understanding to this story.

These factors include the roles of the sovereigns, the state and the federal governments, the physical facilities needed to utilize the water resource, the role of regulation of uses, population growth and distribution, economic development, the role of local government and the growth of the cities, the impact of science and technology, the threats to the public health and to the natural order of things.

PART I covers the years 1783 to 1899, the organization of the new nation and the development over the 19th century

Chapter 1 describes and quantifies the water resources of the state. Chapter 2 traces the role of water resources from the founding of the republic to the end of the 19th century. The major elements were the opening of the tribal lands in the western New York, the Erie Canal which greatly accelerated this process, the population growth through immigration from New England followed by German and Irish immigration prior to the Civil War, the continuing immigration from the eastern and southern Europe, major industrial development, the development of water supplies to serve cities, to fight fires and meet human needs, and the concomitant rise of water borne epidemic disease.

Part II covers the years 1900 to 1949 when the need for more effective water management became evident

Chapter 3 covers the years 1900 to 1929. The new century brought recognition that state government should enact programs to improve and regulate the use of the water resource. This recognition was triggered by the needs to update and enlarge the Erie Canal to a Barge Canal, expand the water supply of New York City, reduce and eliminate water borne disease epidemics, provide clean water for public water supplies, manage the use and development of hydroelectric power generation as exemplified by the Niagara Falls installations, to safeguard fish and other aquatic life, to regulate rivers for more effective use. It also becomes evident that state government needed to be reformed and reorganized to enable it to respond to these and other needs. This led to a major reform by Governor Al Smith in 1927-28 that greatly strengthened the executive branch of state government.

Chapter 4 covers the years 1930-1939. This was the decade of the great depression. The depression helped to accelerate the state and federal activity in order to create jobs and help the economic recovery. Many of these activities included water resources regulation and construction. There were major floods on the Susquehanna River in the southern tier of the state, a cooperative federal state flood control program was enacted to protect flood prone areas. The City of Buffalo was ordered to build a sewage treatment plant which it did, aided by depression era public works grants. Over 150 other municipalities built sewage treatment facilities under the grant programs. An interstate Compact was created to clean up the waters of New York Harbor. Another interstate compact was created to clean up the waters of the Ohio River that included the Allegany River in the southwestern part of New York. A subdivision law was enacted to bring suburban growth under control. The inability of local government to manage suburban growth was becoming evident. The federal government adopted the soil conservation law and program that had a strong water resources component. This was a cooperative effort including the National Soil Conservation Service, the State and all the Counties.

Chapter 5 covers the years 1940-1949. The attention of the nation was focused on the war from 1940 through 1945. Post was recovery then became the major concern. In 1946 the Legislature undertook a major study of water pollution control. This led to the adoption of a comprehensive water pollution control law and program housed in the health department. This was the first law and program that protected all legitimate water resource uses from water pollution.

Part III covers the years 1950-1969. The public concern for protecting natural resources and the public health grew by leaps and bounds over the next two decades.

Chapter 6 covers the years 1950-1959. Implementation of the new water pollution control law was undertaken. It was slow going due to the complicated requirements to survey, classify and develop an abatements plan. The limited fiscal support was a major negative factor. The legislature continued to study water resources management needs. This resulted in the creation of a Water Resource Commission (WRC) to set a policy and provide oversight for all water resources programs.

Chapter 7 covers the years 1960-1965. The WRC was organized and became operational. Governor Rockefeller became interested in water pollution control programming. After a special study done by the office for local government that quantified the need for pollution control facilities, the Governor proposed a Pure Waters Program that made major changes in the state effort and furnished major construction grants for municipalities. The people endorsed the program by adopting a million dollar bond issue in 1965.

Chapter 8 covers the years 1966-1969. The pure waters program brought a quantum expansion on the water pollution control activities at the state level. The federal WPC act of 1966 included most of the elements of the NYS program. Unfortunately it was poorly funded which limited its effectiveness. New York State continues to fund the federal share so the state program continued to move forward. At the same time the publicÕs demand for effective environmental management led by two not-for-profit organizations in the state and other conservation-environmental organization at the federal level pressured both the State and other federal governments to take action, which they did. As this pressure grew the officials responded. New York State created the Department of Environmental conservation (DEC) effective July 1, 1970 that subsumed all environmental programs and most water resources programs. The only exception was the water supply program in the health department. The federal government created a similar agency the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that subsumed all environmental programs including the water pollution program and the waster supply program (in 1973), effective December 6, 1970. The many federal water resources program stayed in their current agencies.

About the Author

After service in World War II, Bob Hennigan earned a BachelorÕs degree in Civil Engineering from Manhattan College, New York City, and a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. He began his career as an engineer with the New York State Department of Health in the Syracuse district and regional offices dealing mainly with water supply and water pollution issues in a time of growth and expansion (1949Ð1957). He moved to Albany in 1958 to head up the water pollution control section of the department. In 1960 he took a position with the state Office for Local Government(OLG) to deal with the environmental problems of local governments as principal engineer. Governor Rockefeller then authorized the special study of the "Needs for Sewage Works" by the office. Hennigan headed up the study (1961Ð1962). The study defined and quantified the needs and the estimated costs for needed wastewater facilities.The study also evaluated the existing water pollution control program. All of the findings and recommendations were accepted and endorsed by the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Governor Rockefeller then utilized the study as the basis for initiating and developing his "PureWaters Program." Bob Hennigan worked closely with Dick Wiebe of the governorÕs office in developing the program. The OLG then worked on promoting the program across the state in1965. Hennigan returned to the health department in 1965 to direct the implementation of the program.

The people overwhelmingly endorsed the program in the election of 1965 by approving the Pure Water Bond Issue to provide funds to support the program. When the start-up phase had been substantially completed in late 1967, Hennigan then became executive director of the State University Water Resources Center at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He later became the director of the graduate program in environmental science, and the chairman of the environmental studies faculty.

Hennigan was executive director of the Temporary State Commission on the Water Supply Needs of Southeastern New York(1970Ð1975). This area included metropolitan New York City, Long Island, the Lower Hudson, and the source counties. This study was in response to the drought of the 1960s. A number of major findings and recommendations resulted; most were adopted in whole or in part in the following decade. He also served as the director of the Central New York Water Pollution Control Program under the auspices of the Regional Planning and Development Board from 1975 to 1980. He was very active in state and local water resources programs and served for over 20 years as executive director of the New York Water Environment Association (NYWEA), a nonprofit organization of professionals engaged in water quality management activities. Hennigan retired from SUNY ESF in 1993 as chairman of the environmental studies faculty and is now professor emeritus. He retired as the executive director of NYWEA in 2000.