Suez Water has a new name: Veolia

Everyone in Rye Brook and Port Chester who uses water now has a new name for their supplier: Veolia.

That is the most immediate result of the integration of all of Suez Water’s North American operations with Veolia North America.

A Mar. 21 media release from Veolia notes that the merger with Suez “expands Veolia North America’s water portfolio, with an additional 6.7 million water customers—including over 700,000 drinking water customers—served through 67 additional public-private partnerships and six new regulated utilities.”

The release also says: “This positions VNA with 10,000 employees as the leading water and wastewater treatment company in the US for cities and municipalities.”

For those who haven’t heard of Veolia, the company proclaims that: “In North America, Veolia is already active in water and wastewater treatment, commercial and hazardous waste collection and disposal, energy consulting through its decarbonization offerings as well as resource recovery, including the recycling of wind turbine blades.”

The impact on water users in Rye Brook and Port Chester

The most obvious question for Rye Brook and Port Chester water users is: how will this change my water supply, my bills, and my life?

In its release, Veolia has an initial, careful response: “For existing customers of both Veolia North America and Suez North America, the merger will not result in any immediate changes in how they receive their services.”

That leaves the following questions still open:

Veolia is still distributing water from Westchester Joint Water Works, which has yet to get full governmental permission to build its court mandated water filtration plant, now slated to be located on land at the County airport. That means Veolia as did Suez, will still be distributing warnings about bacteria in the water supply because of the lack of that filtration plant – a factor totally beyond their control. So, will those notices keep coming? The obvious answer is yes.

How long will it be until Veolia applies for rate increases?

At what point will Veolia be able to guarantee its ability to supply water for any of the new buildings in the planning stages in both Rye Brook and Port Chester?

Answers to Question #2 are anyone’s guess.

The Westmore News does have an answer to Question #3 from Bill Madden, Veolia’s Director, New York Communications and Government Affairs.

In a Mar. 22 email, he wrote:

“Veolia is currently analyzing a high volume of water service applications in a concentrated area in the Village of Port Chester.

We are closely analyzing the predicted water demand and service requirements from the proposed development to determine the short-term and long-term impacts on the Veolia water system and its customers.

This analysis includes consideration of Veolia’s requirement and dedication to provide continuous, reliable, and high-quality service to its current customers, while investigating options to augment the water system, as necessary, in support of the proposed additional growth and demand.

Veolia anticipates completion of this analysis in approximately six months.”