Published in July 2001.

Over nine million people living in New York City, Westchester, Putnam, Orange and Ulster Counties enjoy clean, unfiltered drinking water from the Croton, Catskill and Delaware watersheds. The 6,000-mile network of pipes, shafts and subterranean aqueducts carries an average 1.4 billion gallons of pristine water each day from 19 upstate reservoirs. The City water delivery system is a remarkable engineering achievement and the single largest man-made financial asset in New York State. But the City’s reservoir infrastructure is in a state of disrepair that threatens its ability to continue to supply the City with water.

Four decades ago, the City of New York was known as the mecca of civil engineering and water delivery, and the City water supply was regarded as one of American civilization’s proudest engineering accomplishments. The brilliant engineers of DEP's halcyon days have departed and the City is left with an ossified engineering staff, presiding over the gradual deterioration of the system. Their greatest energies seem to be devoted to protecting perks and positions, pursuing whistleblowers, and keeping the public in the dark about important issues affecting community health and safety. Instead of taking the necessary steps to restore DEP’s prestige and safeguard the City water supply, DEP leadership in the agency’s LeFrak City headquarters in Queens and the upstate supervising engineers, who know the condition of the system, seem to be counting their days to retirement, hoping they make it before the dike bursts.

This third report has four sections, each covering a critical subject area affecting the performance and security of the City’s water supply. Each section describes a looming crisis with the potential to interrupt the flow of high quality drinking water to City consumers and thereby jeopardize public health and safety.

Part I deals with DEP’s chronic failure to ensure adequate maintenance of the water supply infrastructure. Some DEP facilities are literally crumbling into ruin. Part II describes a serious leak in the Delaware Aqueduct, New York City’s newest and most important water supply tunnel. Part III examines how poor maintenance and outdated, malfunctioning equipment have caused numerous toxic spills at key water supply facilities. In some cases, mercury, PCBs, lead and other chemicals have entered the drinking water supply. Part IV describes another growing threat to our water quality – increasing levels of suspended solids (turbidity) in our drinking water pose a real public health threat.

This report documents serious flaws in DEP’s management of the water supply infrastructure and offers concrete and workable recommendations for reform. In general, DEP needs to provide meaningful support to its field personnel, to fully fund maintenance and repair programs, to begin immediate repairs to the Delaware Aqueduct, and to ensure that toxic materials can never again threaten the City’s drinking water supply.