< language= type=text/> var isoPubDate = 'March 06, 2007'

Times Herald-Record
March 06, 2007

Kiryas Joel — Kiryas Joel officials are suing Orange County to stop it from selling off capacity at its sewage treatment plant or force it to admit that it has plenty to go around.

The lawsuit could — at least temporarily — stop neighboring Woodbury, Blooming Grove and Monroe from buying more capacity at the Harriman plant, which had more sewage than it could handle until its expansion was finished last year.

That would mean less sewer service for future homes and businesses in those three towns and more for those in fast-growing Kiryas Joel.

Woodbury has already agreed to buy 319,000 gallons of daily treatment capacity and sent letters offering sewer service to more than 100 property owners who have waited as long as 20 years for connections.

The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a simmering conflict over Kiryas Joel's growth and its mounting water and sewer needs.

More than two years ago, the county sued Kiryas Joel over its proposal to tap New York City's Catskill Aqueduct, throwing the controversial water project into legal limbo. An appeal of a ruling siding with the county is pending.

In that case, the county accused Kiryas Joel of brushing aside important questions in its environmental review, notably how to treat the added wastewater that its 13-mile pipeline would generate.

Now, Kiryas Joel is returning the favor by accusing the county of doing no environmental study before offering to sell 1 million gallons of daily treatment capacity.

It's also attacking what its lawyers believe is a major inconsistency: How, they ask, can the county whine about limited sewer service for the aqueduct project and then offer 1 million gallons per day to towns outside the county sewer district?

Orange County Attorney David Darwin didn't return a phone call for comment yesterday

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