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• Commissioner's
Statement  Sign
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Welcome to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s new Web site for informing the public about the City’s upstate watersheds and the steps being taken to protect the quality of the water supply. New York City is known throughout the world for its excellent drinking water. But most people do not know where the water comes from or how much work goes into maintaining the City’s vast water system. The fact is that the City spends hundreds of million of dollars each year to improve its water infrastructure and to manage resources in its 2000 square-mile upstate watershed. In the coming decade the DEP will build a filtration plant for the Croton water supply, which provides about 10 percent of our water supply. The other 90 percent comes from the Catskill and Delaware water systems, which remain unfiltered thanks to the pristine condition of the upstate areas where the City’s largest reservoirs lie. In order to preserve this remarkable asset, and prevent the need for an expensive filtration plant for the Catskill and Delaware water systems, the City enforces an array of environmental regulations designed to protect water quality while encouraging reasonable and responsible development in the watershed communities. It also invests in infrastructure – such as wastewater treatment facilities and septic systems – that shield the water supply, while working with its upstate partners to develop comprehensive land-use practices that curb pollution at the water’s source. I am sure as you explore our Web site you will realize a new appreciation for a resource many take for granted. Be sure to share this knowledge with a young person, for it is future generations that will benefit most from our work today – just as we benefit from the foresight of the people who over 150 years ago built the water system we use every day. Emily Lloyd |
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