Ticonderoga faces federal water shutoff deadline

 Chilson and Eagle Lake residents that depend on Gooseneck Pond water source brace for possible shutoff

By Tim Rowland

With less than a week before a federal deadline to shut down the public water source serving 105 people in western Ticonderoga, town officials said they have yet to receive firm orders to do so from the Environmental Protection Agency.

That gives them hope they’ll be afforded more time to work out a solution, while at the same time cautioning that it should not be interpreted that federal and state agencies will not ultimately follow through on orders to shut down Gooseneck Pond as a source of drinking water.

Whether that’s sooner or later remains to be seen.

“We’ve been working really well with the EPA, and they understand what the situation is,” said Ti Supervisor Mark Wright. “They’re very well aware of what our plans are, so I’m hoping that they’ll agree that it’s a good approach.”

But with no guarantees, Chilson and Eagle Lake residents were still bracing for the worst. “We have all been living in horrible fear over this,” said Todd Condon, who was stockpiling 5-gallon buckets of water in case the tap goes dry on Tuesday. “The stress has been unbearable.”

Deadline fast approaching for Gooseneck Pond alternative

In 2019, Ticonderoga was given a deadline of June 24, 2025, to come up with an alternative to Gooseneck, which does not meet standards of the federal Clean Drinking Water Act, and also has issues with its dam.

Residents at the time were told it would be a tough deadline to meet, and would require the community to come together as a team. Instead, the situation devolved into conspiracy theories and social media chum as Gooseneck Pond became a rallying cry against government overreach.

Three residents sued, and although the case was tossed out in relatively short order by a federal judge, the town had to stop working toward a solution for the eight months it took to litigate, Wright said.

In a statement read at the June 5 Ticonderoga board meeting, Wright addressed “continued statements we are seeing and hearing on social media and in print and video news media” insisting Gooseneck Ponds remains a viable water source. While that is technically true, it would come “at a cost that is not remotely affordable,” Wright said.

To fix up the dam and build a required filtration plant was initially estimated to cost $35 million. “We just can’t use Gooseneck unless somebody pulls up with a wheelbarrow of $30 or $40 million,” Wright said.

Town proposes wells as solution

Instead, the town is proposing the creation of three micro water districts that would be served by wells. Wright said the town has identified potential locations for these wells and is in the process of testing their viability. Districts are required for projects to be eligible for government funding.

While some funding has been lined up, Wright said the project probably needs another $5 million to make bills more affordable, an amount he hopes to receive from the state.

If the wells prove viable, the plan would also have to be approved by a referendum of people living in the proposed districts, which will require even more time beyond the federal deadline, probably through the end of the year.

A cloud of uncertainty, for the past 34 years

A few people along the thinly populated Route 74 corridor have grown tired of waiting and drilled their own wells, which is another problem for districts that need all the customers they can get to keep the cost affordable.

Meanwhile, residents are living under a cloud of uncertainty, not knowing how much longer they will have water. 

Although the situation is urgent today, state and federal officials have been telling Ticonderoga since 1991 that its water system was out of compliance. But 15 years went by and the town dragged its feet until the Justice Department began levying weighty fines.

“After the town failed to achieve compliance through the state’s administrative process, the New York State Department of Health and United States of America filed a civil complaint against the town of Ticonderoga in 2018,” wrote Kristine Wheeler, director of the state health department’s Bureau of Water Supply Protection in a letter to Condon and his wife, Tonya, in January 2024. “The town of Ticonderoga is under a consent decree to resolve violations identified in the complaint, which will include disconnecting from Gooseneck Pond as a drinking water source and obtaining a new source.”

While the misinformation and false hopes about the viability of Gooseneck has led to delays, no one is unsympathetic to the plight of residents who have been caught up in an unfortunate situation through no fault of their own.

Where the problems began

The seeds were planted in 1993 when the village of Ticonderoga dissolved and turned operations — including public water —  over to the town. No one at the time noticed, or thought much of it, that Chilson and Eagle Lake were not part of the town’s new water district, and that residents were instead purchasing water under contract.

Under then-Supervisor Joe Giordano, the town finally began working on a new system, but the feds nevertheless fined the town $50,000 in 2018 for failing to meet past deadlines.

Most of the town switched to well water five years ago, but not Chilson and Eagle Lake, because they were not part of the project — government grants and loans can only be spent on residents inside a water district, so the western communities continued to rely on Gooseneck, even as they were warned to boil the water before drinking.

The town proposed forming a new district and pumping well water uphill to the west. But the costs would have led to exorbitant bills, and the well water had gained a reputation as being exceedingly hard, so the proposal went nowhere.

Since then, Wright said, it’s been one pivot after another as the town has tried to find something that would work — often parrying rumor and opposition along the way.

“We hear and understand the apprehension and concerns of those residents affected by the discontinuation of Gooseneck Pond as a drinking water source,” he read in his statement before the board. “The town board has stated more than once that it has a moral obligation to exercise every available option to ensure all residents have access to affordable, safe, compliant drinking water.”

Wright said no one from the affected communities was there to hear it. 

Photo at top: Ticonderoga resident Todd Condon stores buckets of water in case his community’s water is shut off. Photo by Tim Rowland