ABINANTI TO PROPOSE COUNTY STORM WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
"A REGIONAL SOLUTION FOR A REGIONAL PROBLEM"

For Immediate Release: April 24, 2007

Contact: Thomas J. Abinanti, (914)592-7100

"No one is in charge -- someone must take charge, " said Westchester County Legislator Tom Abinanti (Greenburgh, D, WF, I), as he announced that he will introduce legislation to set up a county storm water management district to deal with the recurrent flooding impacting Westchester County.

"Storm water flooding has become a regional problem with regional causes requiring regional solutions," explained Abinanti, Chair of the Westchester Legislature's Environment and Energy Committee. "There is no countywide storm drain system. Local storm drain systems are largely insufficient and don't even exist in large parts of the county."

Abinanti's legislation will create a Westchester County Storm Water Management District to: (1) map and assess existing storm drain systems; (2) plan a coordinated storm drain system to alleviate present and prevent future flooding; and (3) finance and construct the system.

"The cost will probably be astronomical -- but not nearly as much as the cost of doing nothing," noted Abinanti. "Homes and businesses are being washed

away. Our environment is being damaged -- trees and greenery uprooted, wildlife displaced and waterways clogged and polluted. And predictions are for more and more severe storms." Abinanti expects that the County will have to seek state and federal funding assistance.

"Communities can no longer go it alone," said the Greenburgh Legislator. "Communities are literally over their heads when it comes to storm water. They need a regional government to bail them out."