by David Cruz 

A new bill by several elected officials aims to give the public access to the Jerome Park Reservoir by 2019.

It’s a request that comes nearly a decade after the city Department of Environmental Protection fenced off the property as they were in the early stages of building the Croton Water Filtration Plant. The plant, built inside Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park, would clean water from the reservoir. Testing has already begun, and in some cases the reservoir is filled with drinkable water.

“The people of the Bronx deserve to have this as parkland and have more parkland in the Bronx,” said Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, the bill’s sponsor.

The bill would allow public access to Jerome Park Reservoir for general public or recreational use. Space would also be used as a conservancy.

A variation of the bill has been introduced by state Senator Jeff Klein.

Dinowitz, flanked by supporters of the bill, including Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., has been a major critic of the plant. The project has gone nearly $2 billion over budget and has been delayed for years.

“While the people in Manhattan, for example, have the area around the Central Park Reservoir where they can jog and walk and enjoy themselves and enjoy the scenery, those of us in the Bronx don’t have that privilege that has been given to those in Manhattan,” said Dinowitz.

The DEP, which owns the property, has maintained that terrorism concerns have kept the public out of the reservoir. It’s an argument that’s long been heard by Dinowitz, who countered that the water in the filtration plant–which would be subject to biological warfare by terrorists–will be diverted to the reservoir first and funneled to filtration plant for distribution. He cited Central Park in Manhattan as another park with an abundance of water and no safeguards.

“Security was never brought up as a concern for many years,” said Dinowitz. “A handful of years ago, well after 9/11 when the legislation was passed to build the filtration plant, the DEP came up with another way to keep the community out of the reservoir.”

Additional reporting by David Greene.