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Summary
- Abstract:
- Documents major projects the society undertook to protect water resources, including the Wilmorite project, the Bonded Concrete project, and the water supply applications of the city of Schenectady and the town of Rotterdam.
- Extent:
- 12.46 cubic ft.
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Identification of specific item, series, box, folder, Society for the Preservation of Water Resources Records, 1918-1999. M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University at Albany, State University of New York (hereafter referred to as the Society for the Preservation of Water Resources Records).
Background
- Scope and Content:
The bulk of the records of the Society for the Preservation of Water Resources consist of files on the major projects the society undertook, such as the Wilmorite project, the Bonded Concrete project, and the water supply applications of the city of Schenectady and the town of Rotterdam (1982-1985). As most of these projects concerned legal questions, the files consist primarily of legal papers not produced by SPWR, but many include notes by SPWR. The records for each of these projects form a complete record of the legal proceedings for each project including testimony by expert witnesses for SPWR. However, little information about the SPWR's strategies can be gleaned from this material. For instance, the records provide little evidence that the society was interested in the Broadway Mall project (1960, 1980-1981) because they thought the site for the Broadway Mall might be a possible alternate site for Wilmorite's Rotterdam Square Mall.
The news clippings (1978-1992) appear to be complete and these contain some general clippings on water problems as well as much information about the history of the projects that the society worked on, but not necessarily from the point of view of SPWR. These clippings do have some information on entire projects that are not easy to find elsewhere in the records. One instance of this might be the SPWR project that concerned gasoline leaking from a service station over the aquifer. This was a very small project that required no legal moves, and therefore there is no separate series on this project. The news clippings series is probably the best place to find this information. Even the meeting minutes (1981-1987) and the day file (1981-1985) would be little help, because these generally contain little more than sketchy notes and most of them are difficult to read because they are handwritten.
The large maps and photographs (1975, 1978-1981) are often useful to help a researcher visualize where the controversies took place. There is little material in the general files (1981-1985, 1988, 1991), but it does give a broad idea of the goals and the strategies of the Society for the Preservation of Water Resources. Overall, these records greatly favor information from the Wilmorite Project, which makes up nearly half of the available content.
This collection was donated to the University Libraries in two separate accessions 17 years apart. The first donation consisted of 7 cubic feet of material, while the second donation was over 5 cubic feet of material. Because the first donation of material had already been processed before the arrival of the remaining material, consideration had to be made on how to combine the records. The newer accessioned material was for the most part added to the ends of existing series, so researchers will note that there are separate alphabetic arrangements within series 4, 6, and 8. The records processed in 1988 were not altered, which also explains why series 4, 6, and 8 are not housed in sequentially numbered boxes.
- Biographical / Historical:
The Society for the Preservation of Water Resources, Inc. (SPWR), was incorporated on June 24, 1981 as the Society for the Preservation of the Aquifer, a not-for-profit corporation "to promote the protection of Schenectady County water resources; to encourage citizen participation in the decision making process affecting water resources; to educate the community on issues having direct or implied consequences for county water resources; to spearhead activities designed to protect the County's water resources from compromise; and to raise funds". The members of the association were mostly engineers and scientists, people with the technical background to understand the problems they were addressing.
The administrative structure of the association was simple: a president, a vice-president and a secretary/treasurer. The members met periodically to discuss their concerns and to plan their strategy. They encouraged the public to take an interest in preserving their water resources and they worked together with others to try to reach their goals.
As preserving the purity of the Great Flats Aquifer of Schenectady County was their major concern, the Society for the Preservation of the Aquifer was also known as SPA, an acronym that people could remember. One of the organization's major projects was to prevent Wilmorite, Inc., from building Rotterdam Square Mall (which at one point was being called Westview Mall) over the aquifer. The society came up with alternate sites for the mall, including the site for Broadway Mall, a mall proposed but never built for downtown Schenectady. The group was interested in other possible threats to the aquifer, including the town of Rotterdam's proposed outfall sewer line over the aquifer and the leaking of gas from a Mobil gas station near a critical area of the aquifer. The group also followed the course of the water supply applications that the city of Schenectady and the town of Rotterdam submitted to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The water supply applications were apparent attempts to gain control over and, therefore, protect critical areas of the aquifer. SPWR also worked to keep Bonded Concrete from mining gravel from the aquifer and tried to stop other projects such as the Guildercrest development and the Schermerhorn Hollow Village complex that interfered with the Schenectady County aquifer [Kagay, John, telephone conversation, 24 October 1988].
- Acquisition information:
- All items in this manuscript group were donated to the University Libraries, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, by John Kagay of the Society for the Preservation of Water Resources on March 2, 1988. An additional accession was received in July 2005 from Marjorie Kagay.
- Processing information:
Processed in 1988 by Geoffrey Huth. Revised by Orson Kingsley in 2006.
- Arrangement:
Divided into 10 topical series.
- Physical location:
- The materials are located onsite in the department.
Subjects
- Subjects:
- Citizens' associations -- New York (State) -- Rotterdam.
City planning -- New York (State) -- Rotterdam.
Zoning law -- New York (State) -- Rotterdam.
Environmental protection -- New York (State) -- Citizen participation.
Shopping malls -- New York (State).
Water resources development -- New York (State) -- Citizen participation.
Great Flats Aquifer (N.Y.)
Agriculture
Conservation and the Environment
Neighborhood and Community Associations
Schenectady, New York
Social Activists and Public Advocates
Minutes.
Maps.
Photographs.
Drawing.
Clippings (information artifacts).
Agenda. - Names:
- Wilmorite, Inc.
Bonded Concrete, Inc.
Rotterdam Square Mall.
Contents
Access
Using These Materials
- ACCESS:
- The archives are open to the public and anyone is welcome to visit and view the collections.
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
Access to this record group is unrestricted.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of copyright. Whenever possible, the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives will provide information about copyright owners and other restrictions, but the legal determination ultimately rests with the researcher. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Identification of specific item, series, box, folder, Society for the Preservation of Water Resources Records, 1918-1999. M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University at Albany, State University of New York (hereafter referred to as the Society for the Preservation of Water Resources Records).