How Reliable is New York City's Water Supply?

The New York City water supply system provides drinking water to over 9 million customers. It operates almost entirely by gravity and is delivered to the city via a system of aqueducts and tunnels, some constructed over 100 years ago. Currently the system's safe yield exceeds the demand, but demands are expected to increase, and major system outages are possible, especially in the Delaware water supply aqueduct. NYC receives about 55% of its water supply from the Delaware component of their system. The current leakage from the aqueduct exceeds 40 mgd, and folks living some 700 feet above the tunnel on the surface are seeing new lakes and streams created by that leak. The city is facing a major challenge, how to repair the leaks and not cause a total collapse of the tunnel. This talk will discuss some of those challenges and the possible consequences and options and what is being done about it.