The town of Marlborough has completed a water feasibility study officials hope will suggest affordable solutions to meet municipal water needs while helping to sustain and grow businesses along a two-mile stretch of the town’s highly traveled Route 9W.
If the town water supply is extended to new locales, one major plus could be helping convince a major town employer, Kedem Winery operated by Royal Wine Corp., to move its Bayonne, N.J., bottling plant to the town.
The relocation would be a $10 million investment, eventually creating 100 new jobs in three to five years, Kedem Vice President Michael Herzog said. The company has been in the Marlborough-Milton area since 1968. “We like the place and we want to keep doing business here,” said Herzog. “If we can get water and sewer, we’d gladly stay here.”
Herzog said relocating Kedem’s Marlborough production facilities to Bayonne is not off the table, either, stressing New Jersey has offered incentives. But that is only one of the pressures facing town officials as they consider the town water supply.
The water study was viewed as a first step to resolving the issues and was largely financed by  the Ulster County Industrial Development Corp., which provided a $10,000 grant toward it; $3,000 came from the town’s water district.
Performed by the engineering firm Barton & Loguidice using employees from their Ellenville office the $13,000 study is under review by the town board and was  presented to the public at a 7 p.m. July 26 meeting,
No decisions were made, but options for water were discussed. One option is examining creation of town water supply using wells and aquifers underlying town land. Another option is partnering with Lloyd to interconnect with its supply, derived from the Hudson River.
A key related question is whether to help Newburgh pay for a water filtration plant mandated by the federal government to purify water from the New York City aqueduct. The town share of the project would be 20 percent of a total cost, estimated at $20 million to $25 million.
Marlborough would have to help pay for filtration because, currently, water is supplied to the town by the New York City aqueduct system through interconnection with Newburgh. But the cost is rising, even aside from helping foot the bill for a treatment plant, Â the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, increased rates charged to upstate wholesale buyers by 24.7 percent for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
The DEP also notified the town of the possible need to shut off supply from the Delaware Aqueduct in 2013 or later to repair leaks, which could take as long as four years. The town needs a back up supply in place by that time.
Lloyd”™s water district is viewed as a primary or backup supplier, using water from the Hudson River, although residents have concerns regarding quality, particularly in coming years if the salt tongue extends farther up the Hudson during droughts.
Besides examining the most economical water system options, the study considered how to fix low water pressure in town hydrants and how to install water lines along Route 9W from Riverview Drive North to McLaughlin Drive in Marlborough to Old Indian Road in the Milton hamlet.
As the next immediate step, the town must decide whether to spend an additional $100,000 to determine the breadth of the aquifer underlying town property, which could provide the cheapest solution to the problem, or could simply rule out that possibility.
