Lake DeForest

Fiction: The amount of water that is released from Lake DeForest to New Jersey is arbitrary.

Fact: United Water is required to release water from Lake DeForest into the Hackensack River. Based upon engineering principles that have stood the test of time, state regulators established Lake DeForest’s “safe yield,” or maximum daily quantity of water that can be safely withdrawn during the drought of record, at 19.75 million gallons. The rights of downstream users of a water body, known as riparian rights, are well established in U.S. law and were taken into account when the predecessor to the Public Service Commission divided the 19.75 million gallons per day (mgd) safe yield with at least 10 mgd “forever reserved” for Rockland County, 2 mgd for the Village of Nyack and 7.75 mgd for New Jersey. If water were not released from the reservoir, the river at times would dry up, fish would die and downstream communities relying on the river for water would have to look elsewhere

Fiction: Customers of United Water New Jersey benefit from Lake DeForest free of charge.

Fact: When Lake DeForest was approved in 1952, the water company’s Rockland County customer base was too small to shoulder the estimated $6 million cost of building the reservoir and treatment plant. Recognizing that New Jersey residents would benefit from a regulated flow in the Hackensack River, a financing plan that divides costs between residents of both states was approved by both New York and New Jersey. Today, customers of United Water New Jersey pay $1.4 million a year to support the reservoir.