“I always filter my water. All of the water around NYC is dirty, so you know our [tap] water is too.” —NYC Resident

New York City residents have a lot of different feelings and opinions about their tap water. The wide range of impressions leaves one to wonder whether or not NYC tap water is clean and safe to drink. It may also cause one to ask: where does our tap water come from?

Contrary to what most people believe, NYC has some of the best quality tap water in the entire world.¹ There are a lot of different efforts in place to make that a reality too. For starters, the origin of our tap water is not anywhere near the city. Our tap water comes from upstate New York in the Catskill/Delaware Watersheds and the Croton Watershed, about 125 miles from our beloved city.²

The location is far for a reason. Our tap water comes from mountain ice that melts from previous snow and rainfalls. As it melts and/or travels down, it makes its way into tributaries and rivers. All of these fresh water bodies make up the beginning stages of our water supply system. The entire system comprises of nineteen reservoirs throughout the two watersheds. The Catskill/Delaware supply provides 90% of NYC’s tap water, whereas the Croton supply provides 10%.³

The history of getting water from the watershed areas dates back to when NYC was a new city of colonizers. That population of people was not what it is today, but the demand for clean water was just as high because of the growing population. The reason why our city is able to get our water from such a distance is thanks to this history as well as long-standing agreements we have with those communities.

The watershed agreements are important for several reasons: Firstly, the watershed agreements are important because they reinforce the valuable relationship between NYC and the watershed communities. Secondly, they are important because the communities are on the land which our water comes from. This means their behavior is especially important to the quality of our water. That leads us to the Filtration Avoidance Determination that the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has to ultimately avoid the Catskill/Delaware watershed from being filtered.⁴ The only reason why NYC DEP is granted this avoidance is because of the watershed agreement stipulations.

Some major components of this watershed agreement include:

1. Programs to update community/resident septic tank systems that if not otherwise fixed, they could leech raw sewage into groundwater and therefore our water system.
2. Programs to help and educate farmers about their agricultural practices which includes the use of pesticides because that can runoff into bodies of water.
3. Land acquisition on behalf of NYC but only from voluntary parties so that NYC has less worry about the land-use of communities. (NYC does not acquire land from people who do not want to give theirs up unwillingly.)
4. Recreational programs (like skiing, hiking, or camping grounds) on acquired land for communities/residents so that the watershed agreement maintains balance between NYC and watershed communities.

However, the Croton watershed supply does have filtration. This oftentimes brings up questions of how can our water quality be so good if 90% of it is not filtered. The filtration process of nature is one that is efficient and cannot be matched at any cost. Running through the natural environments allows the fresh water to be filtered naturally. During which, it is constantly being tested by NYC DEP. When the water reaches the city, it all goes through UV lights and has chlorine added, both are for disinfection. This is how and why NYC tap water has such great quality.

One major common misconception is that we have lead in our water. That can be true, but it is not because of the process that was just described. Old pipes that were used to initially build water systems were made of lead. When old homes and buildings still have this type of piping, they are more likely to have lead contamination in their water. This is why home filtration is still a good idea. If you are a NYC resident and would like to test your water for lead, you can get a lead testing kit by calling 311, or clicking here. Additionally, if you are interested in the report for drinking water and it’s quality, click here to view.

 

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References:

¹ NY Times. Jan. 18, 2018. A Billion-Dollar Investment in New York’s Water. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/nyregon/new-york-city-water-filtration.html.

² NYC DEP. Drinking Water. Retrieved from https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/index.shtml.

³ NYC Water. NYC’s Reservoir System. Retrieved from https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/index.shtml.

⁴ NYC DEP. Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD) Reports. Retrieved from https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/watershed_protection/fad.shtml.