By Shayla Love 

It could be until the year 2022 before the public steps foot in the Jerome Park Reservoir, the Norwood News has learned.

On Dec. 9, 2013, Robert Fanuzzi, of Community Board 8 (CB8) and previous chair of the Filtration Monitoring Committee (FMC), took a walk on a site no community member has been on in years. He was allowed into the reservoir, which has been sealed off in conjunction with the building of the Croton Water Filtration Plant (CWFP). “It was gorgeous,” Fanuzzi said. “Even on a miserable day, it was amazing to be next to the water.”

Fanuzzi and a select few, including then Councilman-elect Andrew Cohen, Wilhem Ronda of the Borough President’s Office and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, were guests of the Department for Environmental Protection (DEP) on a walk-through that, they thought, would jumpstart a pilot plan for public access as early as 2015. What they discovered, instead, was an unknown capital project to restore the inner wall of the reservoir, which stands to potentially keep the public out until the next decade.

Public Access Eludes Residents
Fanuzzi said that the community had begun organizing for a program laid out in a 2011 Public Access Report from the DEP. The report said that public access would be determined based on the results of a pilot program when the CWFP was completed. During the program, the report said that pedestrians would be allowed on the perimeter path at designated times, families could attend educational programs about the reservoir, and there would be a community day featuring tours and picnics. After reviewing these events, access would be considered. The estimated launch for the pilot was 2013, the year the plant would be operational.

As the CWFP nears its new end-date in 2015, Fanuzzi said they assumed that the pilot program would be following shortly after. “The expectation was to see the inner road and create a dialogue for what would be permissible for community access,” Fanuzzi said. “It was very exciting and we wanted to start early.”

When Fanuzzi asked about a timeline, Deputy Commissioner James Roberts, who led the December tour, outlined what work remained. Fanuzzi said Roberts outlined a project that includes east wall repair, interior wall repair, replacement of perimeter paths, and fence improvements. As a result, there will be no pilot program for public access in the near future.

“He was just laying out the work they had to do,” Fanuzzi said. “I don’t know if he understood the implications of saying that. It was more to say, ‘Don’t even think about getting in here.’ What became clear is that there was a major capital project looming between the completion of the water plant and the public’s access, and it was not included in the public access report.”

Further Delays
There are deeper implications to the reservoir work, mainly the start date of another recently-announced phase for the reservoir called “Water for the Future.” This plan involves the integration of the Catskill and Delaware water system to the filtration plant.

As part of the diversion, and eventual replacement of the Catskills/Delaware water system, constant testing of the reservoir would be regularly scheduled once the capital project is completed, Fanuzzi learned. Details of this testing are expected to be presented to the FMC at its May 27 meeting.

“The testing of the Cat/Del will take us into the next decade,” Fanuzzi said. “DEP presented this in only an anecdotal way so far. My impression was that the lining of the reservoir would come first, then the testing would come second. All this came of the walk-through: two projects that were not covered in the access report.”

Details of the reservoir repairs have yet to be formally released.

Greater Divide
Distrust against the DEP runs rampant in the neighborhoods surrounding the plant and reservoir. Gary Axelbank, a Van Cortlandt Park resident and longtime opponent of the plant, said that this capital project raises two disturbing questions. “When did they know this work had to be done?” Axelbank said. “Either they knew about it before, and didn’t disclose it, or, even more negligently, they were not aware of it and didn’t check the state of the reservoir this whole time.”

Fanuzzi said he thinks the latter; they were unaware of the work that needed to be done. Community members want to know why the reservoir wasn’t repaired simultaneously with the plant’s construction. The explanation could be that DEP didn’t know about it, according to Axelbank and Fanuzzi.

“Roberts sounded like they did not have plans on the drawing board yet,” Fanuzzi said. “It’s major work, and it may have snuck up on them. To me, this is an unfortunate end and an unnecessary delay, if that work could have been done simultaneously.”

Fanuzzi doesn’t doubt that the repairs to the reservoir are necessary. But the addition of a new project would further delay the Cat/Del testing, which had pushed public access to approximately 2022, according to Fanuzzi and Axelbank. The new work is stacking on top of each other, “moving the goal posts,” Fanuzzi said. Now, Bronx residents cannot be sure when, if ever, they will be allowed back into the reservoir.

An Unclear Future
The DEP would not comment on the status or timetable of the capital project. Through DEP spokesperson Christopher Gilbride, “The upgrades to Jerome Park Reservoir are an important step towards activating the Croton Filtration Plant, which will ensure that DEP is able to continue to deliver high quality drinking water to more than half the state’s population. In addition, the security measures at Jerome Park can reassure New Yorkers that the water that comes out of their taps is safe to drink.”

Karen Argenti, another longtime activist said, at the December FMC meeting, that the capital project was another stalling tactic to keep the public out of the reservoir. Axelbank said the DEP should present the project to the public, or suspicions will continue to grow.

“I’m sure there will be questions about why it wasn’t included in the public access report or part of the filtration plant construction itself,” Fanuzzi said. “I don’t know why they haven’t announced it yet. This is big. I wish they would. I think the community has endured enough.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.