The village of Westfield is one of 39 municipalities that will receive free technical assistance to help protect public drinking water sources through the Drinking Water Source Protection Program.

The multi-agency initiative, led by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and state Health Department in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Markets and Department of State helps municipalities to take action to improve and protect public drinking water sources and the environment. The town of Chautauqua, village of Mayville and town of Cherry Creek already participate in the program.

“The Drinking Water Source Protection Program is one of the many ways New York is providing communities across the state with the tools needed to protect sources of public drinking water and conserve the groundwater and surface water supplies for future generations,” said Basil Seggos, state DEC commissioner. “We are proud to work with our partner agencies and applaud the latest round of municipalities for showing their commitment to improving water quality and access to clean water.”

Communities enrolled in the program will work with technical assistance providers to develop and initiate implementation of a unique drinking water source protection program at no cost to the participating municipalities. The program is designed to build off previous work, help align priorities, and fill gaps within a municipality’s current and future source water protection efforts. Participating municipalities receive assistance in assessing modern day vulnerabilities and engaging in preventative actions to protect drinking water sources from contamination, identifying effective actions to address potential contaminant sources, and implementing source water protection actions. The free technical assistance provided by the Drinking Water Source Protection Program helps take the complexity and guesswork out of developing, and initial implementation of, a drinking water source protection program plan.

In addition to the development of a plan, each community will initiate implementation activities focused on preventing and minimizing pollution of source waters. Municipalities have many tools available to reduce the likelihood of pollutants reaching the source water area for their public water supply. For example, a municipality may:

Work with a landowner to put an easement on a piece of land, or purchase a property that is near a drinking water source;

Make use of available state and federal funding, programs, and other resources to aid with the cost of implementation activities;

Establish a protective buffer or develop and implement local protective zoning around their source that controls activities or land uses that can threaten the water supply; and

Conduct education campaigns for their community to help them understand their part in protecting the source.