County Executive Calls for State Action on Boiceville Water Outage

Published on November 10, 2025

Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger Calls for Immediate State Action on Prolonged Water Outage in Boiceville and Longstanding Failures by Hudson Valley Water Company

KINGSTON, NY - Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger has sent a formal letter to New York State Department of Public Service (DPS) CEO Rory Christian urging immediate intervention to address a water outage in Boiceville that has left residents without potable water for 22 days. The outage stems from a failure in Hudson Valley Water Company’s (HVWC) arsenic removal system — the same failure that occurred in December 2023 — and is the latest in a long history of service breakdowns and regulatory violations.

“This is not a one-time occurrence,” County Executive Metzger wrote. “Our residents are rightly exasperated, as they were in precisely this same situation two years ago — the same system failure and the same pattern of poor communication with customers.”

Metzger’s letter outlines urgent requests for DPS and the Public Service Commission (PSC), including:

• Expedited replacement of the failed filtration media;
• Installation of a redundant filter train to prevent future outages;
• Enforcement of proper customer communication protocols;
• A public update on the status of Case 24-W-0105, including whether a temporary operator has been appointed;

• And long-term action to transfer HVWC’s five Ulster County systems to a qualified owner capable of providing safe, reliable service.

The letter builds on years of advocacy by Ulster County and state officials. Since 2019, HVWC has faced numerous complaints about water quality, service interruptions, and poor customer communication. A 2020 DPS staff report issued 49 recommendations, many of which remain unaddressed. In December 2023, the Boiceville system experienced a catastrophic failure, prompting a “Do Not Drink” order. In February 2024, the PSC launched a formal investigation and ordered HVWC to show cause why it should not be replaced by a temporary operator.

Public hearings throughout 2024 revealed widespread issues across HVWC’s five systems — including Mount Marion, High Falls Park, Pine Street-Hurley, West Hurley, and Boiceville — with residents reporting billing errors, frequent outages, and unsafe water conditions. Despite repeated warnings and directives, HVWC has failed to implement lasting improvements.