The Hidden Water Crisis in Fallsburg - And What We Must Do About It
Dear Friends and Neighbors
In the lush landscape of Sullivan County, where streams thread through forested hills and lakes shimmer beneath the sun, it’s easy to forget that our water is under threat. But beneath the surface, a crisis is growing—and in the Town of Fallsburg, it’s time we faced it head-on.
Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution—the leading cause of water degradation in the United States—doesn’t come from a single pipe or facility. It comes from everywhere: rain washing over parking lots and rooftops, car-washing soap flowing down driveways, fertilizer running off overwatered lawns, and waste from both humans and animals making its way into our streams. It’s insidious, decentralized, and deeply damaging.
The consequences aren’t abstract. They’re measurable and local. Polluted runoff can carry pathogens that close swimming holes, nutrients that fuel toxic algae blooms, sediment that destroys aquatic habitats, and toxic chemicals that contaminate our drinking water. These effects are already being felt, especially in overdeveloped pockets of our town where streams run brown after every storm and wells run dry in peak season.
Much of this is driven by unchecked development. As more land is paved and forested areas give way to high-density housing, impervious surfaces grow—and so does the volume of polluted runoff. When impervious coverage exceeds just 12–15% of a watershed, stream health rapidly declines. Think about that the next time you see another large-scale project being rushed through the planning board without a serious look at its environmental consequences.
Fallsburg, like every municipality in Sullivan County, has both the power and the obligation to change course. The 2020 Sullivan County “Water Resource Management Toolbox” offers a clear blueprint:
Plan Smarter: Update zoning to protect wetlands and streams. Set clear limits on impervious surface coverage. Require setbacks and buffers that preserve natural filtration zones.
Build Better: Promote cluster development that preserves open space. Incentivize green infrastructure like pervious pavements, vegetated swales, and rain gardens.
Enforce and Educate: Adopt Best Management Practices for stormwater, maintain infrastructure regularly, and ensure both contractors and residents know what’s at stake and how to help.
It’s also time for Fallsburg to convene an ad hoc water protection committee—drawing from our planning, zoning, public works, and environmental representatives—to draft a formal Action Plan that embeds water protection into every layer of local law. These goals should be supported through a mix of developer fees, local bonds, and state or federal grants. The money is out there—what’s needed is the will to act.
Sullivan County already has a Water Quality Coordinating Committee (WQCC), working in collaboration with agencies like the DEC, DEP, and The Nature Conservancy. But local leadership—right here in Fallsburg—is where real change begins. We cannot continue approving dense subdivisions and mobile home parks in areas without knowing if we have enough clean water to support them, let alone the infrastructure to handle the runoff they generate.
Water is not infinite. It does not replenish itself overnight. And it cannot be replaced once contaminated. If we want clean water for ourselves, for our farms, for future generations—we must stop treating it as an afterthought.
It’s time to put science, sustainability, and common sense back into our planning process. The tools are in our hands. The only question is whether we’ll use them.
There will be an election for Town Board this fall. Several current members will be running for re-election. Fallsburg Future has decided to publish a weekly newsletter highlighting the issues that face the residents and the town. Each newsletter will highlight a particular topic of concern as well as an overview of a particular issue. We have had technical issues with our email service. It has been corrected and you are able to respond to this email.
Fallsburg's Future is a community network of concerned Fallsburg residents established in January 2016. Its Mission is to help guide the urban development of the town of Fallsburg and its five hamlets, to promote its sustainable economic development, protect the fragile beauty of its natural habitats and enhance the opportunities and quality of life for all its residents and visitors. We hope to curb the suburban sprawl that is threatening to overwhelm the town’s physical infrastructure and destroy the natural beauty that the area depends on for its future development. See us on Facebook and our website Fallsburgsfuture.com.