The New York City Water Supply System/ A Living Watershed

The New York City Water Supply System/ A Living Watershed. The Pepacton Reservoir. , You are at the Pepacton Reservoir, the largest reservoir by volume in the New York City Water Supply System. It is located in Delaware County along the northern edge of the Catskill Park, five miles south of the Village of Margaretville and more than 100 miles northwest of New York City. The reservoir, completed in 1955, was formed by damming the East Branch of the Delaware River, which continues west to join the main stem of the Delaware. The Pepacton is approximately 15 miles long, and holds 140.2 billion gallons at full capacity. It collects water from a watershed of 371 square miles., The Pepacton is one of four reservoirs in the City's Delaware Water Supply. It normally contributes more than 25 percent of the total daily water flow into New York City. Water withdrawn from this reservoir enters the East Delaware Tunnel and flows southeast for 25 miles into the Rondout Reservoir., There it mixes with water from the Cannonsville and Neversink Reservoirs before heading south via the 85-mile-long Delaware Aqueduct, the longest continuous tunnel in the world. Pepacton water ordinarily makes its way to the West Branch and Kensico Reservoirs, east of the Hudson River, for further settling. At the Kensico it mixes with Catskill Supply waters and is carried to Hillview Reservoir in Yonkers, where it enters New York City's vast water distribution system., What is a Watershed? , Everyone lives in a watershed. A watershed is the land over which rain and melting snow drain to a river, stream, lake or other body of water. In much of the Catskill Region, residents live in a watershed that fills six reservoirs. Together with 13 reservoirs and lakes in Westchester and Putnam Counties east of the Hudson River, they supply 1.3 billion gallons of water each day to 9 million people in New York City and its northern suburbs. The water in this region is of very high quality, which is why the City system produces what has been called the "Champagne of Drinking Water.", TIMELINE , Life of a Water Supply , . 1677 First Well in Manhattan , . 1776 First Reservoir (Lower B'way) , . 1842 Croton System Initiated , . 1915 Catskill System Initiated , . 1931 Supreme Court Decision Clears Way for Delaware System , . 1967 Cannonsville Reservoir Finished, Completing the Delaware System, A Living Watershed, At work and play in a living watershed , There are 1 million acres of land in the Catskill/Delaware Watershed, including villages, farms, homes and businesses. The watershed is both public and private. The State's Catskill Park, denoted by the "Blue Line” on most road maps, consists of 300,000 acres, much of it "forever wild” State Forest Preserve., However, 75% of the land in the watershed is privately-owned. The region's cultural, recreational and sporting attractions draw countless tourists every season of the year., Threats to water quality , A major threat to water quality is non-point source pollution - chemicals, sediment, pathogens, and nutrients washed into watercourses from fields, barnyards, roads and parking lots during rain, storms, and snowmelt. Although urbanization is not a significant threat here, any development that does not properly treat or contain runoff can create pollution problems., What is being done to protect the watershed? , In 1997 an historic agreement was signed between the City; upstate towns, counties and villages; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; New York State; and the environmental community. This agreement includes programs, funded by New York City, to replace septic systems, build new community wastewater treatment facilities, provide sand and salt storage buildings, fund educational projects and support appropriate economic development in the region. Many of these programs are run by the locally administered, non-profit Catskill Watershed Corporation. The agreement also enabled the City to institute new land use regulations, and to purchase additional lands important for water supply protection., Other programs, established under a separate 1994 partnership between New York City and the watershed agricultural community, help farmers and forest landowners protect water quality while preserving their way of life in this working landscape. These programs are administered by the non-profit Watershed Agricultural Council., Shared watershed, shared responsibility , The water produced in this region is a precious resource, and the nine million users of New York City water have a responsibility to conserve it. At the, same time, watershed residents must try to ensure that land use practices do not harm water quality. Both the City and watershed communities rely on pure Catskills water and on a healthy rural economy. Protecting both is the aim of our precedent-setting upstate- downstate partnership., Photo Captions (clockwise from top left):, Angling is a popular activity in the Catskills, where American flyfishing was born., Watershed education programs teach both upstate and downstate residents the value of protecting and conserving water., Among water quality programs administered by the Catskill Watershed Corporation is one which replaces failing residential septic systems., Farm planning programs run by the Watershed Agricultural Council benefit farmers while protecting water quality.