The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) wants to regularly release water downstream into the Schoharie Valley for the first time since the Schoharie Reservoir was built in 1927, according to a press release issued by the agency on Friday, March 20.

Right now, most of the water from the Schoharie Reservoir is channeled through an 18-mile tunnel into the Esopus Creek in Ulster County. From there, it enters the Ashokan Reservoir and goes on to New York City.

The Schoharie Reservoir stores 19.6 billion gallons of water and supplies 15 percent of the city's drinking water every day. Beneath the dam's mammoth, recently rebuilt spillway, the Schoharie Creek is usually stagnant and dry.

Above: Aaron Rabiner, a candidate for village trustee in the Sullivan County village of Bloomingburg, in a campaign interview. Rabiner has a two-vote lead on incumbent trustee Katherine Roemer in a tight race that won't be resolved until next week. 

It was a throw-out-the-bums kind of year in village elections across the Catskills, which were held yesterday, March 18. In the few village races in the region that were contested, most incumbents fared badly against upstarts and challengers.

Many of the races are nailbiters. Some results are preliminary due to razor-thin margins in races where affidavit and absentee ballots have yet to be counted. In a few races, a single vote separated the winners from the losers.

Photo by Flickr user Vox Efx. 

Today, Wednesday, March 18, is Election Day for most New York villages. Village elections in many Catskills villages are sleepy, uncontested affairs, but a few are real contests with full slates of candidates from multiple parties.