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       #Post#: 2300--------------------------------------------------
       Erie Canal NTM Review for 2022 - Inspections! Repairs! Reduced
       Depths!
   DIR By: Doug K
       Date: August 2, 2022, 2:30 pm
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       If you have been watching the many NYS Canal Notices for this
       season, its easy to see that NYPA, new caretakers of the Erie
       Canal System, are VERY serious about finding & fixing public
       safety issues along the NYS Canal System.
       To date there have been about a DOZEN Notice to Mariners (NTMs)
       or Public Announcements on the NYS Canal website dedicated soley
       to Underwater Inspections of all 4 major Canals, or
       Inspection/Repair of bridges that cross over the canal.
  HTML https://www.canals.ny.gov/wwwapps/tas/notices/index.aspx
       Now if reduced depth (or width) issues along the waterway are
       added into the mix, there are more than a dozen more NTMs issued
       for everything from silt build up, to inoperable locks and also
       a half dozen embankment seepage and stabilty issues. Overall
       these 3 main issues make up over half of the NTMs used to report
       issues along the waterway that affect boaters, or those using
       the roads around the Canal System
       Obviously the NYS Canal System is "broken", perhaps from years
       of neglected maintenance under the NYS Thruway's watch, or maybe
       from years of canal mis-management that tended to focus on how
       to "avoid" expensive repair at all cost, instead of keeping the
       Erie Canal in "good operating condition" per NYS Canal Law.
       Pay me now, or pay me later...that's what the Erie Canal has
       said loud and clear to New York in 2022... and now it's LATER.
       Even the NYS State Comptroller has weighed in twice on safety
       issues, citing the general issues with Dam Safety in New York
       State in 2018, and another Comptroller Report that specifically
       identified all of this "missed inspection & maintenance" along
       the Canals as early as 2015.
       But that's all "water under the liftbridge" now.
       NYPA is serious about restoring the NY Barge Canal to its "like
       new" state, evident by their new emphasis on Canal Embankment
       Integrity, and their Embankment Safety efforts. As a Utility
       Company, serving the public, they are not allowed to ignore the
       SAFETY issues raised by NYS Comptroller Reports.
       NYPA WILL FIX THE NYS CANAL SYSTEM!
  HTML https://www.nyscanalintegrity.org/
       Afterall, a simple calculation, based on the proposed Embankment
       Repair work, now reveals that when NYPA took over the NYS Canal
       System they also inherited 125 miles of uninspected,
       ill-maintained, and overgrown earthen dams. That sinle change in
       ownership most likely insured that the New York Power Authority
       now owns the largest amount of dams needing repair or full
       remediation in the entire State of NY.
       All told there is close to 1500 acres of unsafe earthen dams or
       overgrown shoreline that needs to be dealt with sometime soon,
       its 7 years past due now.
       So, as NYPA has said many times: "We can't inspect what we can't
       see, and we can't fix the Canal System if we can't inspect these
       areas to find the problems"
       Unfortunately while all of this Canal Safety effort moves
       forward, there are some on social media claiming "nothing is
       wrong, the Erie Canal is not broken, and trees need to be left
       alone". But that's not what the facts say... and not what all
       these Notice to Mariners are indicating. In fact, it's just the
       opposite.
       So be forewarned...
       The ONLY way to insure New Yorkers are safe from possible Erie
       Canal embankment breaches, breaches that would flood thousands
       living below its heavily used "towpath trail", is to either
       allow NYPA, & the New York State Canal Corporation to INSPECT &
       REPAIR these safety issues, or DRAIN THE CANAL and abandon it,
       until such a time when "social media" influence is finally
       suppressed by Erie Canal Neighbors and the public living in the
       path of flood danger.
       Show your support for Erie Canal Safety, please sign our online
       petition
  HTML https://www.change.org/p/join-your-neighbors-support-vegetation-removal-from-erie-canal-for-safety
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