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The Plan - Focusing on the five key dimensions of the city’s environment — land, air, water, energy, and transportation — we have developed a plan that can become a model for cities in the 21st century
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We have the luxury of a strong water supply, but our supply system faces serious challenges.  In order to continue providing reliable water to 8.2 million New York City residents and an additional one million people upstate, we must ensure the quality of our water at its source by building a new filtration plant for the Croton system and continuing our aggressive protection program for the Catskill and Delaware watersheds.  We will create redundancy for the aqueducts that carry the water to the city through a combination of water conservation measures, maximizing the use of our existing facilities through new infrastructure, and evaluating new potential water sources. Finally, we must be able to repair and modernize our in-city distribution, which means finishing the Water Tunnel No. 3 and accelerating repairs to water mains.
Water QualityWater Network
WaterwaysInitiatives
1: Continue the Watershed Protection Program
Aggressively protect our watersheds as we seek to maintain a Filtration Avoidance Determination for the Catskill and Delaware Water Supplies
2: Construct an ultraviolet disinfection plant for the Catskill/Delaware systems
Construct an ultraviolet disinfection facility to destroy disease-causing organisms in our upstate watershed
3: Build the Croton Filtration plant
Construct a water filtration plant to protect the Croton supply
4: Launch a major new water conservation effort
Implement a water conservation program to reduce citywide consumption by 60 million gallons a day
5: Maximize existing facilities
Add 245 mgd to our supply potential through increased efficiency
6: Evaluate new water sources
Evaluate 39 projects to meet the shortfall needs of the city during a prolonged shutdown of the Delaware Aqueduct
7: Complete Water Tunnel No. 3
  • Complete construction of stage 2 and begin repairing Water Tunnel No. 1
  • Complete stage 3 and 4 of Water Tunnel No. 3
8: Complete a backup tunnel to Staten Island
Replace pipelines connecting Staten Island to Tunnel No. 2
9: Accelerate upgrades to water main infrastructure
Increase replacement rate to over 80 miles annually
Learn More
Download
Read the PlaNYC report on Water Network
(in PDF)
Download
Read Progress Report 2008 on Water Network
(in PDF)
Additional Resources
Topics:
Drinking Water, NYC Department of Environmental Protection

Drinking Water Supply and Water Quality Report, NYC Department of Environmental Protection

New York City Watershed, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Watershed Protection, NYC Department of Environmental Protection

Ways to Save Water, NYC Department of Environmental Protection

City Water Tunnel No. 3, NYC Department of Environmental Protection

General Websites:
NYC Department of Environmental Protection

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