The Catskill Aqueduct is in the process of a major renovation, potentially affecting the water supplies of several neighboring communities, including Marbletown. To help illuminate the project’s progress thus far, Daniel Michaud Chief of the Upstate Water Supply Capital Design Program and Emily Pereira Capital Design Manager for the New York City Bureau of Water Supply gave a PowerPoint presentation during the November 15 Marbletown Town Board meeting.

Although major work has been done to repair the aqueduct, which runs from the Ashokan Reservoir to Westchester County, work still needs to be done on the pressure tunnel that is located under the Rondout Creek. The construction of the tunnel was completed in 1912 and was found to be leaking soon after. Repairs were done at that time with steel and concrete. Since the 1990s leaks from the tunnel have been apparent and have been monitored closely for the last five years.

Next month a remote operating vehicle (ROV) will be sent down the tunnel to inspect where the leaks are coming from and to assess the condition of the tunnel in general. The ROV will be equipped with a camera that will send pictures back to the operator. This information will be analyzed to determine how to proceed with the tunnel rehabilitation. By 2024 a design will be developed to repair the tunnel and construction will commence in 2027. According to Michaud, “Top engineers from the country will be working on the project,” which is totally funded by New York City.

Another Fire Protection District Created

The Board of Fire Commissioners of the Marbletown Fire District voted to dissolve their district as of December 31, 2022. The town of Marbletown has agreed to establish a fire protection district on that date, which will encompass the same boundaries as the Marbletown Fire District. The name of the new protection district will be North Marbletown Fire Protection District No. 2. As previously reported, the Marbletown already created another fire protection district when the Vly-Atwood District was dissolved this year. The primary reason for the dissolution of the local fire districts is the lack of volunteer personnel to provide sufficient fire coverage.

Community Preservation Fund Advisory Board

The Marbletown Town Board has approved the Community Preservation Plan and the Community Preservation Fund to support the conservation of working farms, natural areas and historic properties.

This month a real estate transfer tax was approved by the community as a ballot referendum. An advisory board has been selected by the Marbletown Town Board to oversee the acquisitions of property using monies from this fund. The advisory board will consist of Bill Merchant, Jonathan Bergman, Dan Shuster, Bryn Roshong, Celia Lewis, Adam Liebowitz and Dale Robbins. Supervisor Rich Parete stated, “This will be a very hard-working committee.”