NEWBURGH – The City of Newburgh should be drawing all its drinking water from the New York City aqueduct by the end of the week. The supply has been gradually switched from Brown’s Pond to the aqueduct.
The city has been using its backup supply at Brown’s Pond for weeks after it was determined its primary source, Washington Lake, was contaminated with chemical pollutants. The pond is running low so the conversion to the aqueduct will be a big help, said Mayor Judy Kennedy.
“The cutover should be complete by the end of the week,” Kennedy said. “It’s about 9.3 million gallons a day we will be using. We want to remind people they should stay on water restrictions because it is expensive water.”
The state has committed to pay the roughly $262,000 monthly bill to use the New York City water.
Still to be determined is where the chemical contaminates in Washington Lake are coming from and how to remedy the situation.
