We will aggressively protect our watersheds as we seek to maintain a Filtration Avoidance Determination for the Catskill and Delaware Water Supplies
Today, New York is one of only five major cities in the United States without a filtration plant processing its drinking water supply. Although the 1986 Safe Drinking Water Act mandated such facilities, New York-along with Boston, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle-received a special waiver, known as a Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD).

Since 1993, this waiver has been re-evaluated every five years; the Federal government issued New York City a draft 10-year FAD on April 12, 2007. In order to maintain our status-and meet more stringent Federal standards -we must continue to aggressively protect the purity of our water supply.

That is why we have developed a $462 million Watershed Protection Program that will target the biggest potential threats and enlist the help of the surrounding towns, workers, and residents.

The city owns nearly 114,000 acres within the watersheds, of which 74,000 are open to the public. Over the next decade, DEP will seek to purchase an additional 60,000 to 75,000 acres in key locations to protect even more of the land along the reservoirs.

Privately-owned forests and farms cover two-thirds of the watershed land area, which means the City must work with foresters to establish sustainable forest management plans and to ensure the overall health of these important buffers for the city's water supply. Already, we have worked with 560 landowners covering 100,000 acres to develop long-term forestry programs that we will implement in the coming years. Much of the developed land in the region is also filled with working farms; we will continue partnering with farmers to prevent fertilizers and manure from washing into the waterways.

We will also continue to work with local communities to repair an estimated 300 residential septic systems per year, and install new wastewater treatment systems in a number of communities. Finally, we must address the growing problem of turbidity that occurs during heavy storms and explore possible infrastructure changes to prevent sediment from entering our supply system.

We know that protection efforts can do more than preserve water quality-they can improve it. For example, prior to the enhancement of the city's watershed protection programs in the 1990s, the Cannonsville Reservoir suffered from massive algae blooms that frequently made the water undrinkable. Today, nutrient loading into Cannonsville has been reduced by 40%, reducing algae blooms and making Cannonsville a reliable source of drinking water. But we have to do more.

The Watershed Protection Program is costly. But compared to the costs of constructing and operating a filtration plant, as well as the environmental impacts of the additional energy and chemicals required by filtration, it is the most sustainable choice for New York.

Progress (as of 4/22/08):
On July 30, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new, 10-year FAD to the City. In November, DEP submitted a strategy to work with land trusts to augment the Land Acquisition Program. In addition, in December, DEP submitted an evaluation of potential engineering alternatives to address turbidity at the Ashokan Reservoir. The City will continue to meet all commitments under the new FAD. The City purchased over 5,000 acres this past year to protect the watersheds. This puts the total acreage of watershed acquired to over 130,000.