NYC’s Water System as Model of Sustainable Planning
Mar 28th, 2008 by Jervey
The Old Croton Aqueduct, somewhere upstate, by flickr user Scubabear86
From the water that surrounds us to the water we drink (and bathe in, and cook with, and just about everything else)…
Steve Cohen in the Observer talks about the successes of NYC’s water infrastructure. It’s worth a full read, but here are a couple highlights:
New York gets its water from two upstate reservoir systems that it owns and operates. To keep the sources of water clean the city works upstate to purchase land and ensure best management practices by local farmers and other residents.
New York’s water system provides more than 1.1 billion gallons of water daily to around 8 million New York City residents and one million residents in Westchester, Putman, Ulster and Orange counties.
The two tunnels that carry our water to us represent one of the most impressive public works projects in the world. Water Tunnel No. 1 was completed 1917, Water Tunnel No. 2 was completed 1936 and Water Tunnel No. 3 began 1970, and with luck will be completed in 2020. According to the water industry’s Web site:
New York’s City Tunnel No. 3 is one of the most complex and intricate engineering projects in the world. Constructed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the tunnel will eventually span 60 miles and is expected to be complete by 2020.
Most of New York City’s water supply is protected and filtered by the natural processes of upstate ecosystems. To environmental economists, nature’s work that protects our water is an “environmental service”. Because the price of a filtration plant is known, we can estimate the monetary value of the services provided to filter our water. This comes to $1 billion per year minus the $100 million or so we spend each year to protect the upstate ecosystems. This is $900 million a year of found money that we will lose if we don’t protect these fragile ecosystems.
But, again, definitely read the whole article.