NYC Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report 2006
New York City 2006 Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor Emily Lloyd, Commissioner Kensico Dam. September 20, 1917 Dear Water Customer: DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL This year marks the 100th anniversary of New York City’s Catskill water system. On June 20, 1907, then PROTECTION Mayor McClellan traveled by river ferry to Putnam County, where he broke ground on what would 59-17 Junction Boulevard become the Catskill’s critical network of reservoirs and water tunnels, before a crowd of nearly 1,000 Flushing, New York 11373 impressed onlookers. For New York City, the size and scope of the project was unprecedented – at the time, it was the largest single construction project in the City’s history. President of the Board of Water Emily Lloyd Supply, J. Edward Simmons, boasted of the project’s enormity, while newspaper headlines heralded an Commissioner aqueduct that would “cost more than [the] Panama Canal.” Today, 100 years later, this ambitious engineering feat is an integral part of New York City’s vast water system, a system that supplies nearly 9 million people with 1.1 billion gallons of water each day. Mayor McClellan and Board of Water Supply President Simmons could not have known the growth New York would undergo in the century following that auspicious June day, but today their legacy is very much with us, providing City residents with a reliable supply of healthy, clean and safe drinking water. As New York looks towards the future, we must ensure that the water infrastructure we put in place can support future generations of New Yorkers.
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