by David Cruz 

And the costs just keep on climbing.

The city has now projected the overall price tag of the Croton Water Filtration Plant to be $3.7 billion, nearly $3 billion more than its original cost of less than one billion dollars earmarked over a decade ago.

A 13-page report by the Independent Budget Office showed that $157.4 million more will be allocated for fiscal years 2015 to 2020 to build the large-scale filtration system, with analysts factoring in construction costs, design and management, and outside filtration-related projects. The project has long been considered the city’s largest boondoggle, with experts long blaming the project for increased water bills.

A spokesman for the city Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the project,  disagreed with the overall costs of the report. They noted that most of the ballooning costs dealt mostly with fringe projects. That included a $200 million repair job for the New Croton Aqueduct.

“It’s just a difference of accounting,” said the spokesman of the report.

The report did estimate that nearly $33 million more will go to upgrading Bronx parks and playgrounds, which upholds a 2004 agreement between lawmakers and Bronxites that would see $200 million in park projects over the course of the project. According to the memorandum of understanding, projects should have been completed in 2009.

Another Meeting
The findings were revealed during the Croton Facility Monitoring Committee on Nov. 25, where activists once again broached the subject of access to the walkway around the Jerome Park Reservoir.

The DEP maintained its stance that no access will be granted, citing terrorism concerns.

For now, the DEP outlined a pilot project that would allow young people to gain access around the fenced off property. But Gary Axelbank, an activist fighting to gain access to the reservoir for years, said it’s not enough.

“As long as that reservoir’s there, people are going to ask why can’t people cross that walkway there?” said Gary Axelbank, . “We’re going to fight forever until we get that.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.