For our March/April magazine, I sifted through dozens of clean water infrastructure projects in the Adirondack Park. I found around $500 million in projects either planned or under construction, a massive need to improve the critical infrastructure underlying the region and its future.

From sewers in North Creek to drinking water supplies in Essex and St. Armand, town supervisors often fight for years to get the funding to make improvements to their systems – updates that are often required under state directive. The economics of the park make these projects all the more challenging: too few residents to fund the work solely at the local level.

“You can’t get blood from a stone,” St. Armand Town Supervisor Davina Winemiller told me.

There are at least some signs of hope. The state funds that support clean water infrastructure projects are full thanks to a recent federal infrastructure bill, and the billions of dollars eyed in a state environmental bond act would likely support some of the projects.

In other water news, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s new fishing regulations took effect April 1. The new rules aimed to streamline previous regulations. They also established a new year-round fishing season for rainbow and brown trout and splake in lakes and ponds.

ALSO:

• Check out this incredible map showing the march of Lyme disease across New York state over the last two decades.

• The death of a climber in the Trap Dike earlier this month may have been caused by an avalanche.

• The winning bidders for the rights to a railroad corridor in Adirondacks have big plans.

Photo: St. Armand Supervisor Davina Winemiller looks out at the town’s wasterwater treatment plant, which needs hundreds of thousands of dollars of upgrades due to state mandates. Photo by Mike Lynch/Adirondack Explorer

Editor’s note: This first appeared in Zach’s weekly “Water Line” newsletter. Click here to sign up.