A new Sierra Club "Green Paper," written by Jack Bradigan Spula and funded by the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club, reveals that the huge new water treatment plant in Webster, proposed by the Monroe County Water Authority (MCWA), is an extremely expensive and unnecessary development which will contribute significantly to sprawl in the Monroe - Finger Lakes region. This study, which will soon be available to members and later to the public, is written in "news style." It sets the proposed project in a larger context and includes a number of interviews with key actors knowledgeable about the Webster plant development. Despite the fact that contracts on the plant are expected soon, there has been limited public information and no public debate on the merits of the project.

The new Webster plant will initially be constructed to provide 50 million gallons per day (mgd), but plans call for it eventually be able to provide 200 mgd, which is a huge overcapacity for this very slowly growing area. The paper quotes both the Authority and Ed Doherty, recent director of City Environmental Services, as being in agreement that water use by residential customers in the city and country has dropped 15% or more in the last 20 years. When the Authority was asked, "Why do we need a $150 million dollar new Webster water treatment plant?" then Director Jim Smith argued that terrorists might attack our water supplies and he said that the water pipes are vulnerable to earthquakes. Considering this weak reply, Sierra Club would like to ask, "What is the real reason for a new water treatment plant in Webster?"

Although it is difficult, if not impossible to arrive at the "real politic" of unnecessary water infrastructure development, it is safe to look at the financial gains such development offers the construction, real estate and political establishments of the County. According to one confidential source close to MCWA, "If the money is there, they will build."

I have been a watchdog observing the chummy relationship between the Board of Directors of MCWA and the real estate, construction, development and government interests they represent. It seems to me citizens need to look very closely at the monopolistic relationship between poorly planned regional development and the aggressive growth water infrastructure. As Deep Throat said, "Follow the money."