Water is flowing again in Boiceville after residents spent the last two days without it, but the relief comes with a warning: more outages are expected while repairs continue. For homeowners like Dan Zelikman, the latest disruption is just the newest chapter in a years-long saga with Hudson Valley Water Company, the small utility that serves his hamlet and several other Ulster County communities.
Zelikman, who is frustrated with the company, told Spectrum News that water disruptions make washing dishes, doing laundry, brushing teeth, bathing children and getting them ready for school a genuine challenge. The outlet reports that 30 to 40 houses in Boiceville have endured seven water interruptions over the past five years, including a stretch of 45 straight days without water last fall, when arsenic filters failed. That filter failure has a documented precedent: according to the Daily Freeman, state officials traced an October 19, 2025 arsenic-filter failure in Boiceville to the same kind of breakdown that caused a 2023 outage, and issued a violation over inadequate monitoring and replacement of the filter media.
A Years-Long Pattern of Breakdowns
The outage fits a pattern state regulators have already documented. A New York State Department of Public Service report released in January detailed problems across the company’s system in a 215-page filing, concluding that Hudson Valley Water Company, also known as HVWC, was either unwilling or unable to provide safe, adequate and reliable water service to its customers, per the same Spectrum News account. A separate 2025 state report reached a similar conclusion, finding the company lacked the managerial, financial and technical capacity to operate a waterworks system, according to the Daily Freeman.
Those findings echo complaints that have piled up for more than a decade. The Daily Freeman reports that problems with the water company have been reported for at least 15 years, including poor facility conditions and inadequate customer communication about planned work. A 2024 Public Service Commission report detailed 49 violations that needed to be addressed, and as of this spring, no progress had been made, according to Hudson Valley One. Inspections on December 28, 2023 found serious disrepair and questionable structural integrity at the company’s Mount Marion treatment building, the Daily Freeman reported.
No Fix in Sight Without a Willing Buyer
Despite the mounting findings, the state cannot simply force a change in operator. The New York State Public Service Commission cannot replace Hudson Valley Water Company unless a willing entity comes forward, and per the same Spectrum News report, no replacement entity has stepped up to take control. Zelikman wants Ulster County government or the Town of Olive to find a solution, and he pointed to another New York community as a model.
Zelikman said officials in Essex County declared an emergency, changed the arrangement, and took over the water system — a reference to the Town of Willsboro, which took over the private Willsboro Bay Water Company in 2018 and ran water services for its constituents with the Public Service Commission facilitating the takeover, Spectrum News reported. Zelikman questioned whether Boiceville residents deserve water, a comment that underscores just how worn down some customers have become after years of unreliable service.
Hurley Weighs Its Own Takeover
Boiceville is not the only Hudson Valley Water Company service area drawing scrutiny. Hurley officials have been exploring a town takeover of two of the company’s districts — the Pine Street and West Hurley systems, which together serve 80 customers, according to the Daily Freeman. On August 2, Hurley Supervisor Michael Boms authorized an $8.86 million grant application to fund new water lines for those systems, the paper reported, while Hudson Valley One notes the state Public Service Commission valued the two West Hurley districts at just $79,000 even as estimated infrastructure upgrades would run about $9 million.
Customer counts for the company vary by account: Hudson Valley One reported the company serves about 400 customers across West Hurley, Mount Marion, Boiceville, Pine Hill and Rosendale, while an earlier Hudson Valley One report put the figure at roughly 430 customers in High Falls, West Hurley, Mount Marion and Boiceville. The company’s Boiceville system itself, located in the Town of Olive, has just 27 connections, according to the Daily Freeman.
Company Stayed Silent Again
As with past outages, Hudson Valley Water Company did not offer immediate answers this time. Spectrum News 1 contacted the company for comment on the latest disruption, and the company responded, but not immediately, leaving residents like Zelikman to describe the uncertainty on their own. For now, Boiceville residents have water service again, but as Spectrum News reported, they’ve been told to expect further outages while repairs are made — a caveat that, given the company’s history, is doing little to ease anyone’s nerves.
