The Ultimate Guide To New York City Tap Water Isn't Nearly as Great as We Think It Is

Facilities [modify] New York City's water supply includes aqueducts, circulation pipelines, tanks, and water tunnels that channel drinking water to homeowners and visitors. An extensive raised-relief map of the system is on display at the Queens Museum of Art. Until the early 21st century, some places in southeastern Queens got their water from regional wells of the former Jamaica Water system Business.

1 billion m3) and supplies over 1. 2 billion US gal (4. 5 million m3) daily of drinking water to more than eight million city citizens, and another one million users in 4 upstate counties bordering on the system. 3 separate sub-systems, each consisting of aqueducts and tanks, bring water from Upstate New York City to New York City: The New Croton Aqueduct, finished in 1890, brings water from the New Croton Tank in Westchester and Putnam counties.

The Delaware Aqueduct, finished in 1945, taps tributaries of the Delaware River in the western Catskill Mountains and supplies roughly half of New york city City's water supply. The latter 2 aqueducts supply 90% of New York City's drinking water, and the watershed for these aqueducts extends a combined 1 million acres (400,000 ha).

The rest of the watershed is private residential or commercial property that is closely monitored for contaminants; development upon this land is limited. The DEP has actually bought or protected over 130,000 acres (53,000 ha) of private land since 1997 through its Land Acquisition Program. This Website from both aqueducts is kept first in the large Kensico Reservoir and consequently in the much smaller sized Hillview Reservoir closer to the city.

A computer system then evaluates the measurements and makes forecasts for the water quality. In 2015, the buoys took 1. 9 million measurements of the water in the reservoirs. Disinfection and filtration [edit] The water in the Kensico Reservoir streams to the Catskill-Delaware Water Ultraviolet Disinfection Facility, located in Westchester County.