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Kensico Watershed Stormwater Management Plan

Program Summary

Photos

Kensico Reservoir is the terminal reservoir for the Catskill and Delaware watersheds, which means that all the water from those two systems flows into and combines at Kensico. This is the critical last stop for 90% of the City’s water supply before it enters the distribution system at Hillview Reservoir. Because of Kensico’s pivotal role in the water supply system, the City developed a comprehensive strategy to protect the reservoir and its 8-square-mile watershed.

The chief stormwater management programs are:

Best Management Practices (BMPs)

DEP has installed and maintains 42 stormwater BMPs in three towns in the Kensico watershed. The BMPs are designed to eliminate sources of sediment and to remove fecal coliform and solids from stormwater before it enters the reservoir. The BMPs also reduce stream bed and bank erosion by controlling the peak rates of stormwater flow in Kensico’s tributary streams. The BMPs, which are site-specific, include extended holding basins, created wetlands, stream bed and bank stabilization, a sand filter, and outlet stilling basins.

Con-Edison Right of Way

Eighteen of the BMPs are adjacent to an unpaved road that Consolidated Edison uses to maintain its power lines along the western shore of the reservoir. In the course of implementing its Kensico programs, the City identified sections of the road that are eroding and discharging sediment in the vicinity of the reservoir. The City and Con Ed are working together to repair all sections of the road affecting stormwater flow.

Turbidity Curtain/Spill Containment Facilities

In 1994, DEP installed what’s called a turbidity curtain at the mouths of Malcolm and Young Brooks in the Kensico Reservoir. The curtain deflects contaminant-laden stormwater from the two tributaries away from the point where water from the Catskill reservoir system enters Kensico. A new 850-foot-long curtain with specially-designed floatation devices to prevent waterfowl roosting was completed in the spring of 2003.

Interstate Highway 684 runs along the east side of the Kensico Reservoir. To contain and recover any hazardous materials that might be spilled on Interstate 684 and enter the highway drainage system that discharges into Kensico, the City has installed specially-designed booms at the 26 stormwater outfalls from I-684.

Expanded Spill Containment Plan

Recognizing the threat that spills of hazardous materials around the perimeter of the reservoir pose to water quality, DEP has developed an Enhanced Spill Containment Plan that will contain otherwise-uncontrolled spills from Routes 22 and Nannyhagen Road. These measures should be installed by the end of 2003.

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