– My name is Karin A. Wolf, and I live in Phoenicia, New York. I have been an active member of Kingston Citizens, The Sierra Club, and Neetopk Keetopk, since this past Fall when the Niagara Bottling Company posed a serious threat to our watershed and its integrity.
Droughts and the depletion of ground water resources are becoming more common. As supplies of clean, potable water shrink and populations grow, we are going to come to realize how important it is to protect our waters.
We must recognize that water is not a commodity, It is essential for life. It is a gift given to us by the Creator, like air, to sustain life. We cannot live more than a few days without drinking water, and we cannot grow our food without it.
The right to determine what happens to a public water supply – how it is use and whether or not it can be sold – belongs in the hands of the people and their elected representatives. The people MUST have a say.
I commend the Kingston Common Council for bringing forth and supporting this referendum to give the people of Kingston some say over their water supply. This is how the democratic process should function. Kingston is setting an excellent example here. I call on Ulster County, New York State, and the entire country to follow this example and give the people a voice in the use of their public water supply.
The last threat to our local waters came from Niagara Bottling; the next might come from a fracking company. Giving the people a voice in this matter will help protect us from many environmental and health threats in the future. Thank you for taking a step in the right direction for both democracy and environmental justice,
Respectfully submitted,
Karin A. Wolf
– Co-chair for Outreach and Communications on Water Issues, Kingston Citizens.org
– Chair of Water Issues Committee for the Mid Hudson Region Sierra Club
– Member of the Executive Committee of Neetopk Keetopk