Abstract
In this paper, the issue of water quality in New York is researched. The main points to be described are the means of water purification, the harmful substances that can be found in the water and why they need to be eliminated, the principal sources of water for NYC. Moreover, the new water purification facilities are depicted, as well as the ways to fight consequences of natural disasters that influence water quality.
Key words: water purification, reservoir, filtration, contaminants
The topic of this paper is the quality of drinking water in New York City. In order to analyse this issue, it is necessary to look into the sources of drinking water, ways of its purification, as well as main contaminants that need to be dealt with. The water of NYC is actually renowned for its high quality, therefore it is important to find out how such quality can be reached. Also, it is required to describe the aftermath of accidents that can influence water quality, such as hurricanes and superstorms like Sandy, which happened in late October, 2012.
New York City's water supply system is one of the most complex and vast municipal water systems in the world, as NYC is one of the world’s biggest and densely-populated megalopolises. According to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), “the New York City Water Supply System provides approximately one billion gallons of safe drinking water daily to more than eight million residents of New York City, to the millions of tourists and commuters who visit the city throughout the year, as well as about 120 million gallons a day to one million people living in Westchester, Putnam, Ulster, and Orange counties. In all, the New York City Water Supply System provides nearly half the population of New York State with high quality drinking water.” (Water supply and quality report, p. 2)
There are three structures responsible for water supply: Department of Environmental Protection (aka DEP), the Municipal Water Finance Authority and the Water Board. They regulate the system maintenance, financing and payment rates.
The municipal water supply system of New York dates back as far as 1842, when the Old Croton Aqueduct, with a capacity of about 90 million gallons per day was put into operation. Later, the New Croton Aqueduct was added to the system in 1890, after which it functioned without changes until “the City decided to develop the Catskill region as an additional water source” (History of NYC's Water Supply System). This project was finished by 1915. Finally, the Delaware Aqueduct and its reservoirs were put into operation from 1944 till 1964. Nowadays, drinking water for New Yorkers is delivered from 19 reservoirs and three lakes in upstate New York. Three aqueducts (the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Croton_Aqueduct" \o "New Croton Aqueduct" New Croton Aqueduct , the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catskill_Aqueduct" \o "Catskill Aqueduct" Catskill Aqueduct and the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_Aqueduct" \o "Delaware Aqueduct" Delaware Aqueduct ), a network of tunnels …