Reservoir advocates find ally in borough president

For many years, a group of dedicated residents demanded public access to the Jerome Park Reservoir and last week their fight gained momentum as Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. joined the cause.

Since the Department of Environmental Protection proposed more than 20 years ago to site a large water treatment facility in Jerome Park Reservoir, residents have opposed it.

They notched a small victory when plans were changed to site the Croton Water Treatment Plant in Van Cortlandt Park but have mostly been on the losing end of an ongoing struggle over preserving their parkland.

It has been a David versus Goliath community issue. And things have rarely looked as good for David as when, on June 2 at the Amalgamated Housing Cooperative’s Vladeck Hall, Mr. Diaz took up his side. 

Mr. Diaz has gained a reputation for fearlessly challenging Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration and came out to support public access to the reservoir, a concession for putting up with the decade-long Croton construction project in the Bronx.

“The Reservoir was designed, built and opened as a reservoir park, and access should be returned to the community as it was originally intended and agreed to by the DEP,” said Mr. Diaz in his opening remarks.

Currently, the DEP is working on the reservoir as part of the Croton Water Treatment Plant, which will supply the city with between 10 and 30 percent of its drinking water upon completion at the end of 2013. The reservoir will then be filled again but the two sets of fences around the reservoir will not come down because the DEP claims it would compromise the reservoir’s security against terrorism and interfere with its daily operations.

Of the approximately 70 people who attending the June 2 meeting, 20 testified — including members of the Fort Independence Park Neighborhood Association, Jerome Park Conservancy, Amalgamated Housing Cooperative and Community Board 8 — in favor of public access to the reservoir.

“Mr. Bloomberg, tear down this fence! Mr. Bloomberg, tear down this fence!” yelled Gary Axelbank as he pointed in the direction of the reservoir.

Father Richard Gorman, chair of the Croton Filtration Monitoring Committee and Community Board 12, said afterward that Mr. Diaz had succeeded in turning their cause into a Bronx-wide issue.

The DEP has said it would initiate a three-day pilot program to monitor public access and decide how to proceed by the time the reservoir is filled-in in 2013. Advocates maintained that that was just a delay tactic but the DEP didn’t budge. 

Most of the testimony presented to a handful of DEP officials and elected officials — including Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and Councilman Oliver Koppell — focused on the idea that public access is possible without compromising security concerns.