CWC approves loan, hears museum presentation

MARGARETVILLE, NY, Mar. 29, 2006 - The Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) Board of Directors March 28 authorized a loan to a Sullivan County company, approved funding for a vacuum truck to clear Ulster County culverts and storm drains, and heard an update on efforts to establish the Catskill Water Discovery Center.

TThe Board okayed a loan of $80,000 to Yuan Co., Inc. to allow the wholesale distributor of plumbing, heating and electrical supplies to purchase a computer system and new software to improve operating efficiencies. The Board also approved a $400,000 loan to Nuay Realty Corp., which holds title to the business’s real estate at 240 Chestnut Street, Liberty, to refinance maturing debt. Yuan Co. employs 43 people.

Also approved was a Stormwater Retrofit Program grant of $275,000 to the Ulster County Environmental Management Council to purchase a high pressure wash and vacuum truck which will be shared with local highway departments in the County’s Watershed towns. The County recently completed a comprehensive Stormwater Infrastructure Assessment and Planning Report funded by a previous CWC grant. The vacuum truck purchase will help implement one of the report’s recommendations.

For more information on CWC’s stormwater management grant and reimbursement programs, go to www.cwconline.org, or call 845-586-1400, or toll-free, 877-928-7433

Gary Gailes and Ted French of the non-profit Catskill Water Discovery Center attended the CWC meeting to brief the Board on progress towards establishing a museum and water education/research facility in the Town of Middletown.

"Water is the most critical public issue of the 21st century," explained Gailes. "Basically, our message is, ‘We have the world in our hands, let’s not drop it.’ This is a project that needs to happen, and it deserves to be located in the Catskill Watershed."

Funds have been raised to engage consultants Tom Martin Associates to conduct a three-month economic viability study and develop a business plan for the proposed Center. A fund-raising strategy to secure the $25 million to build the Center was previously prepared with support from the CWC, which is otherwise not involved with constructing or equipping the facility.

The 20,000-square-foot center is envisioned for a site at the Town of Middletown Industrial Park on County Road 38 adjacent to the East Branch of the Delaware River. Exhibits will include historical information about development of the City’s water system and its impact on Watershed communities displaced by six massive reservoirs.

The center will also address water shortages and contamination, population increases and political pressures affecting the world’s finite supply of fresh water. A Hall of Science will feature hands-on displays and demonstrations of treatment technologies and pollution controls, and sections of the Center will be devoted to conservation and water protection education, as well as water research.

The Center, it is hoped, will "galvanize a still complacent world" into caring about, and preserving what remains of the globe’s most critical resource, said French.

Public presentations about the Catskill Water Discovery Center will be offered Saturday, April 1 at 4 p.m. at the Middletown Town Hall; Friday, April 7 at 5:30 p.m. at the office of architect Joseph Hurwitz in West Hurley; and Saturday, April 8 at 4 p.m. at the Shandaken Town Hall. All are welcome.