“Water For the Future”:
How the Delaware Aqueduct Leaks Affect New Yorkers
HOOK / CATCH LINE / QUOTE / ANYTHING THAT STANDS OUT AT THE BEGINNING OF ESSAY
About 9 million people live in New York City today, and use over 1 billion gallons of drinking water per day. Where does this water come from? As the largest city in America, and a city that is always expanding, the need for water never stops. In the past, people realized the importance of water, but did not fully understand how to preserve and protect freshwater supplies. Early inhabitants of the Manhattan area misused the natural water supplies, never anticipating a disaster such as the massive fire that broke out in 1834, which collapsed the city due to a lack of necessary water to extinguish the blaze. The residents of the city realized that, “To continue being a city, it[the city of New York] needed to be connected to its[city’s] opposite -- a wild, uninhabited place” (Smith 59). As a result of this, the Delaware Aqueduct was built between 1939-1944, transporting the essential water supplies from the southeastern part of the state. When the massive water system was finished, it seemed like the problem had been solved; however, providing drinkable water for New York continues to be an endless process. Crews in the New York City government too soon realized that the Delaware Aqueduct, which provides half of the water for New Yorkers, had started leaking. (Bosch)
The New York City water system is considered a marvel of modern engineering. The 85-mile-long aqueduct is the longest continuous aqueduct in the world--13 miles longer than the the second one in Finland. For most of its length, the aqueduct is 13.5 feet in diameter; and its depth is 1500 feet underground. The Delaware Aqueduct takes water from the Rondout Reservoir in southeastern New York State to the Hillview Reservoir which is located just outside New York City. It carries water to the city without any pumps, which means it is manipulated by gravity alone. The aqueduct was mostly drilled through stiff, dense bedrock, which was then coated in concrete to create the tunnel; however, two sections of the tube, in the towns of Wawarsing and Newburgh, were covered in steel to provide structural support. These parts of the shaft ran through porous and fractured limestone, which is not competent support rock for tunneling. The two sections that are made of limestone are leaking today. The engineers who originally built this part did not extend the steel liner far enough and cracks developed in the tunnel beyond the lined section. Water is leaking out of the tunnel and flowing directly into the Hudson River, wasting precious water needed by the city. The leak in Newburgh, which was the first to be discovered, was found in about 1990 when a utility worker noticed water shooting up from the ground and into the Hudson River. The Wawarsing leak was discovered two or three years later. Currently, the leaking portions in Newburgh and Wawarsing, spill an estimated one million gallons per day. (Bosch) These leaks in the aqueduct are considered one of the most serious water crises in New York City history. The aqueduct continues to carry about 50 percent of New York City's water each day, but the city needs to remediate the leaks to ensure the reliability and good repair of the water system. Leaks such as these not only reduce the needed water flow to the residents of the city, but can also affect New York in ecologically and financially.
To begin with, the water unintentionally leaking from the aqueduct has serious environmental effects. First, the leak is a waste of natural resources. Since most of the world lives without adequate clean drinking water, it is irresponsible to allow so many gallons of fresh water to be lost. Since getting high-quality water for residents in the city has been a continual struggle, wasting water is tragic environmentally. Repairing the leaks has challenged the government for decades. The leaks release 15 to 35 million gallons of water a day, depending on the amount of water the aqueduct is carrying (Bosch). To save water, the government has begun to fix the leaking sections by creating a bypass system that allows residents and businesses to continue water service while the repairs are taking place. “Building the Delaware Aqueduct Bypass is part of more than $20 billion of water infrastructure investments we have made since 2002 – more than any other City in the nation,” according to former Mayor Bloomberg. The New York government has also invested $1.5 billion in the “Water for the Future” program to improve the water supply and quality during the repair of the Delaware Aqueduct. The planning for this project and the actual restoration has not been easy; however, recently the construction crews have made great progress. “Department of Environmental Protection(DEP) is ahead of schedule and under budget on this critical project – a true testament to the talent of our staff ,” said Deputy Commissioner Kathryn Mallon. The projected completion date for the repairs is 2021.
The blueprint of the repair is to build a bypass along the leak in Newburgh and to put grout into the smaller one in Wawarsing. “The tunnel will be roughly 14.5 feet in diameter once it is lined with concrete and steel and will stretch 2.5 miles – including beneath the entire width of the Hudson River,” according to Adam Bosch. The construction of the bypass will be finished in 2021. The part of the aqueduct that already exists will be shut down after the bypass is completed. The bypass tunnel is the key component of the “Water for the Future” program. “Water For the Future” is a program to ensure people who live in New York can have high-quality water when the aqueduct is under construction. In addition to building the bypass, the project also includes Catskill Aqueduct repair, the Queens underwater rehabilitation, and the Croton Water System Conservation. "We’re using modern science and engineering as well as a tremendous amount of historical data from the engineers who built the water supply system to design the best fix for the Delaware Aqueduct" (“Water For the Future”).
The initial step of the entire program is to build the bypass. To begin with, workers need to build two shafts underground. “The excavation of two vertical shafts that will provide access for construction workers to dig the bypass tunnel,” explains Bosch. The shafts were completed last year, in 2016. The area at the bottom is considered as the platform for the bypass, which is currently under construction. When the original aqueduct is closed down, crews will also inject grout into the cracks at the 500-foot segments.
Building the bypass might benefit the state of economy of New York City. It would provide nearly 200 jobs over the next eight years, and these positions are guaranteed to be filled by local workers. “With 18 different local labor agreements that could potentially apply to the project, the Project Labor Agreement (PLA) provides for a unified approach to shifts and time off, and the increased coordination under one agreement allows for more cost-effective scheduling and greater flexibility” (“Critical Repairs to the Delaware Aqueduct Begin”). When the bypass is completed, it will save the city up to $23 million in what would have continued to be leaked water costs.
As saving water during the repair is essential for both the government and people’s daily lives, the New York government has come out with several possible approaches to help its people utilize water more efficiently. Between now and the Delaware Aqueduct shutdown in 2021, the DEP will implement some initiatives to reduce water consumption in the City by 5 percent. As part of the Municipal Water Efficiency Program, DEP is identifying opportunities to conserve water at City-owned properties and facilities.
To understand how hard it is to switch off the main aqueduct in the New York Water Supply System, it's important to comprehend the history of New York City's water demand. The peak of New York City's water demand was in 1979 when the city used about 1.6 billion gallons of water each day. Even when the Newburgh leak was found in 1990, NYC was still using about 1.4 to 1.5 billion gallons of water every day. The Delaware Aqueduct carried about 50-60 percent of that water to the City every day. With a demand that high, engineers could not easily conjure up a repair plan for the leaks because they could not shut the tunnel off and still maintain an adequate flow of water to New York City residents. In fact, engineers estimated that they would have to shut down the Delaware Aqueduct for 3-4 years to repair the leaks. The city simply could not go without the aqueduct for that long. (Bosch)
Two things that might have affected this situation happened between the 1990’s and now. Even though New York City's population has grown by about 1.5 million people since 1990, its water use has dropped by about one-third. New York City now consumes just under 1 billion gallons of water each day. Some of this improvement is due to new high-efficiency appliances, such as front-loading washers, shower heads, and toilets that flush with 1.2 gallons instead of 5 gallons. Some of it is due to smart meters that New York City installed so that customers could see their water usage. “If they could see they were using water needlessly, or that they had a leak in their building, they would be more apt to change their behavior” (Bosch).
In any case, the lower demand means that we have enough capacity in other parts of the water supply system to shut down the Delaware Aqueduct now, repair it, and continue to have enough water for New York City. (NYC gets its water through three aqueducts -- the Catskill, Delaware and New Croton. The DEP concluded that the other two aqueducts would be able to supply all of NYC's water because of the reduced demand). “There are many challenges that lie ahead while we move forward with the repair process, but the biggest challenge is that we have to fix the largest municipal water supply in the United States while that water supply continues to deliver water to the City,” according to Adam Bosch. It's not like a road that can be shut down, and traffic rerouted. No city -- no matter how large or small -- can exist without an ample supply of water. The government has to ensure the city has that adequate supply while engineers fix one of its main arteries.
Water infrastructure leaks that require massive reconstruction happen not only in New York City. Recently, a break in the California Aqueduct forced the government to shut down the canal that brings water to millions of Southern California residents. Infrastructures all over the United States are aging and many states and cities face struggles similar to those New York City has been involved with over the last 30 years as city planners attempt to maintain the amount of quality drinking water needed by those residing and working in the city. Just like what Ms. Bosch said, “this is a great story about the value of conservation.”If we all attempt to use water more efficiently, lowering the total number of gallons necessary, any needed repairs can be more easily completed with minimal disruption to the public.
The New York City water system is considered a marvel of modern engineering. The 85-mile-long aqueduct is the longest continuous aqueduct in the world--13 miles longer than the the second one in Finland. For most of its length, the aqueduct is 13.5 feet in diameter; and its depth is 1500 feet underground. The Delaware Aqueduct takes water from the Rondout Reservoir in southeastern New York State to the Hillview Reservoir which is located just outside New York City. It carries water to the city without any pumps, which means it is manipulated by gravity alone. The aqueduct was mostly drilled through stiff, dense bedrock, which was then coated in concrete to create the tunnel; however, two sections of the tube, in the towns of Wawarsing and Newburgh, were covered in steel to provide structural support. These parts of the shaft ran through porous and fractured limestone, which is not competent support rock for tunneling. The two sections that are made of limestone are leaking today. The engineers who originally built this part did not extend the steel liner far enough and cracks developed in the tunnel beyond the lined section. Water is leaking out of the tunnel and flowing directly into the Hudson River, wasting precious water needed by the city. The leak in Newburgh, which was the first to be discovered, was found in about 1990 when a utility worker noticed water shooting up from the ground and into the Hudson River. The Wawarsing leak was discovered two or three years later. Currently, the leaking portions in Newburgh and Wawarsing, spill an estimated one million gallons per day. (Bosch) These leaks in the aqueduct are considered one of the most serious water crises in New York City history. The aqueduct continues to carry about 50 percent of New York City's water each day, but the city needs to remediate the leaks to ensure the reliability and good repair of the water system. Leaks such as these not only reduce the needed water flow to the residents of the city, but can also affect New York in ecologically and financially.
To begin with, the water unintentionally leaking from the aqueduct has serious environmental effects. First, the leak is a waste of natural resources. Since most of the world lives without adequate clean drinking water, it is irresponsible to allow so many gallons of fresh water to be lost. Since getting high-quality water for residents in the city has been a continual struggle, wasting water is tragic environmentally. Repairing the leaks has challenged the government for decades. The leaks release 15 to 35 million gallons of water a day, depending on the amount of water the aqueduct is carrying (Bosch). To save water, the government has begun to fix the leaking sections by creating a bypass system that allows residents and businesses to continue water service while the repairs are taking place. “Building the Delaware Aqueduct Bypass is part of more than $20 billion of water infrastructure investments we have made since 2002 – more than any other City in the nation,” according to former Mayor Bloomberg. The New York government has also invested $1.5 billion in the “Water for the Future” program to improve the water supply and quality during the repair of the Delaware Aqueduct. The planning for this project and the actual restoration has not been easy; however, recently the construction crews have made great progress. “Department of Environmental Protection(DEP) is ahead of schedule and under budget on this critical project – a true testament to the talent of our staff ,” said Deputy Commissioner Kathryn Mallon. The projected completion date for the repairs is 2021.
The blueprint of the repair is to build a bypass along the leak in Newburgh and to put grout into the smaller one in Wawarsing. “The tunnel will be roughly 14.5 feet in diameter once it is lined with concrete and steel and will stretch 2.5 miles – including beneath the entire width of the Hudson River,” according to Adam Bosch. The construction of the bypass will be finished in 2021. The part of the aqueduct that already exists will be shut down after the bypass is completed. The bypass tunnel is the key component of the “Water for the Future” program. “Water For the Future” is a program to ensure people who live in New York can have high-quality water when the aqueduct is under construction. In addition to building the bypass, the project also includes Catskill Aqueduct repair, the Queens underwater rehabilitation, and the Croton Water System Conservation. "We’re using modern science and engineering as well as a tremendous amount of historical data from the engineers who built the water supply system to design the best fix for the Delaware Aqueduct" (“Water For the Future”).
The initial step of the entire program is to build the bypass. To begin with, workers need to build two shafts underground. “The excavation of two vertical shafts that will provide access for construction workers to dig the bypass tunnel,” explains Bosch. The shafts were completed last year, in 2016. The area at the bottom is considered as the platform for the bypass, which is currently under construction. When the original aqueduct is closed down, crews will also inject grout into the cracks at the 500-foot segments.
Building the bypass might benefit the state of economy of New York City. It would provide nearly 200 jobs over the next eight years, and these positions are guaranteed to be filled by local workers. “With 18 different local labor agreements that could potentially apply to the project, the Project Labor Agreement (PLA) provides for a unified approach to shifts and time off, and the increased coordination under one agreement allows for more cost-effective scheduling and greater flexibility” (“Critical Repairs to the Delaware Aqueduct Begin”). When the bypass is completed, it will save the city up to $23 million in what would have continued to be leaked water costs.
As saving water during the repair is essential for both the government and people’s daily lives, the New York government has come out with several possible approaches to help its people utilize water more efficiently. Between now and the Delaware Aqueduct shutdown in 2021, the DEP will implement some initiatives to reduce water consumption in the City by 5 percent. As part of the Municipal Water Efficiency Program, DEP is identifying opportunities to conserve water at City-owned properties and facilities.
- Install activation buttons on spray showers in 400 playgrounds saving 1.5 million gallons of water per day.
- Update bathroom fixtures in five hundred city schools potentially saving 4 million gallons per day, which will reduce faucet leaks and other kinds of problems within the pipes.
- Replace up to 800,000 inefficient toilets by 2018 saving approximately 30 million gallons,of water per day.
- Limiting private business and hotels’ use of water potentially saving 13 million gallons per day.
To understand how hard it is to switch off the main aqueduct in the New York Water Supply System, it's important to comprehend the history of New York City's water demand. The peak of New York City's water demand was in 1979 when the city used about 1.6 billion gallons of water each day. Even when the Newburgh leak was found in 1990, NYC was still using about 1.4 to 1.5 billion gallons of water every day. The Delaware Aqueduct carried about 50-60 percent of that water to the City every day. With a demand that high, engineers could not easily conjure up a repair plan for the leaks because they could not shut the tunnel off and still maintain an adequate flow of water to New York City residents. In fact, engineers estimated that they would have to shut down the Delaware Aqueduct for 3-4 years to repair the leaks. The city simply could not go without the aqueduct for that long. (Bosch)
Two things that might have affected this situation happened between the 1990’s and now. Even though New York City's population has grown by about 1.5 million people since 1990, its water use has dropped by about one-third. New York City now consumes just under 1 billion gallons of water each day. Some of this improvement is due to new high-efficiency appliances, such as front-loading washers, shower heads, and toilets that flush with 1.2 gallons instead of 5 gallons. Some of it is due to smart meters that New York City installed so that customers could see their water usage. “If they could see they were using water needlessly, or that they had a leak in their building, they would be more apt to change their behavior” (Bosch).
In any case, the lower demand means that we have enough capacity in other parts of the water supply system to shut down the Delaware Aqueduct now, repair it, and continue to have enough water for New York City. (NYC gets its water through three aqueducts -- the Catskill, Delaware and New Croton. The DEP concluded that the other two aqueducts would be able to supply all of NYC's water because of the reduced demand). “There are many challenges that lie ahead while we move forward with the repair process, but the biggest challenge is that we have to fix the largest municipal water supply in the United States while that water supply continues to deliver water to the City,” according to Adam Bosch. It's not like a road that can be shut down, and traffic rerouted. No city -- no matter how large or small -- can exist without an ample supply of water. The government has to ensure the city has that adequate supply while engineers fix one of its main arteries.
Water infrastructure leaks that require massive reconstruction happen not only in New York City. Recently, a break in the California Aqueduct forced the government to shut down the canal that brings water to millions of Southern California residents. Infrastructures all over the United States are aging and many states and cities face struggles similar to those New York City has been involved with over the last 30 years as city planners attempt to maintain the amount of quality drinking water needed by those residing and working in the city. Just like what Ms. Bosch said, “this is a great story about the value of conservation.”If we all attempt to use water more efficiently, lowering the total number of gallons necessary, any needed repairs can be more easily completed with minimal disruption to the public.
Work Cited
Bosch, Adam. Personal Interview. 1 Mar 2017.
"Repairs Begin on Delaware Aqueduct, Part of New Efforts to Bring Clean Drinking Water to
New Yorkers." The Official Website of the City of New York. Nyc.gov, 04 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
Dunlap, David. “Crews at Work Replacing Section of Delaware Aqueduct.” nytimes. Nytimes,
n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.
Hill, Michael. “Workers dig deep to fix massive New York City leak.” Washington Times.
Washington Times, n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2015
Smith, Heather. “Thirsts and Ghosts.”Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas Ed. Rebecca
Solnit. Oakland: University of California Press, 2016. 55-62. Print.
"Water Leak Forces Shutdown of California Aqueduct."USA Today. Gannett Satellite
Information Network, 13 Jan. 2016. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
Bosch, Adam. Personal Interview. 1 Mar 2017.
"Repairs Begin on Delaware Aqueduct, Part of New Efforts to Bring Clean Drinking Water to
New Yorkers." The Official Website of the City of New York. Nyc.gov, 04 Nov. 2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
Dunlap, David. “Crews at Work Replacing Section of Delaware Aqueduct.” nytimes. Nytimes,
n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.
Hill, Michael. “Workers dig deep to fix massive New York City leak.” Washington Times.
Washington Times, n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2015
Smith, Heather. “Thirsts and Ghosts.”Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas Ed. Rebecca
Solnit. Oakland: University of California Press, 2016. 55-62. Print.
"Water Leak Forces Shutdown of California Aqueduct."USA Today. Gannett Satellite
Information Network, 13 Jan. 2016. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.