#MapMondays – NYC Drinking Water
NYC DEP
#MapMondays – Where does New York's drinking water come from?
NYC has the largest municipal drinking water system in the country with over a billion gallons of water provided each day. Considered to be the "Champagne" of drinking water, it is world-renowned for its quality, consistently winning annual taste tests and exceeding quality standards without the need for filtration.
The water originates from a system of 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes across a 2,000-square-mile watershed in upstate New York.
NYC DEP
Over 90 percent of the water comes from the Catskill/Delaware watershed, 125 miles north of the city with the rest coming from the Croton watershed. Built in 1917, the 92-mile-long Catskill Aqueduct can take 12 weeks to reach the city, using gravity to travel through tunnels that cut through mountains, below creeks, and at one portion, 1,114 feet beneath the Hudson River. Once the water reaches the city's main system a 6,800-mile network of iron and steel pipes – the water has enough pressure to travel up a six-story building.