The 85-mile Delaware Aqueduct, the world’s longest tunnel, is a marvel of engineering.
It delivers about half of New York City’s water — over 500 million gallons a day flowing out of four upstate reservoirs.
Located as deep as 2,000 feet below ground, the concrete-lined tunnel, which varies in width from 13 1/2 to 19 1/2 feet, was built by drilling and blasting.
The work was finished in 1944. So it’s no wonder that the aging aqueduct now leaks 10 million to 30 million gallons of water daily, enough to require major repairs.
And this work might leave Staten Island high and dry.
Under one proposal the city is considering, Richmond County could be removed and isolated from New York’s reservoir system for an extended period and be forced to rely entirely on water from New Jersey.
No way, vow our elected officials — and rightly so.
To bypass or fix cracks in the tunnel, the city Department of Environmental Protection is making plans to spend $1.2 billion on a mammoth repair project that is scheduled to start in 2013 and last until 2021.
The Delaware Aqueduct is to be shut down for up to 12 months beginning in 2018 to build a 2.5-mile bypass tunnel under the Hudson River between Orange and Dutchess counties.
Meanwhile, cracks elsewhere in the original aqueduct will be sealed from the inside.
Under review by the city are ways to supplement the water supply in the five boroughs during the repair work.
For Staten Island, the DEP has said in a draft environmental impact statement that its “preferred” option is to keep the borough connected to the rest of the city during the repair project.
But the Jersey-only option is still on the table.
In a March 8 letter to the DEP, Borough President James Molinaro wrote: “The idea that the New York City Department of Environmental Protection would propose cutting off one of the boroughs entirely from the city’s water system and leaving Staten Island ‘solely dependent’ on water supply — or, during a drought, the lack of water — from private water companies in the State of New Jersey is totally unacceptable.”
Mr. Molinaro urged the DEP to choose another proposed option for the borough if there is a need during the repair work on the Delaware Aqueduct to augment our water supply.
The borough president wrote: “Staten Island should continue to be connected to the city’s water supply system at all times, with any additional supply being provided through the New Jersey augmentation pipeline.”
In a bipartisan show of unity, the letter to the DEP was also signed and endorsed by most other borough lawmakers of both parties.
Add us to the list of those who support the BP’s effort to protect the health and welfare of Staten Islanders.
Even if the Island remains linked to the city’s re-routed supply network, importing extra water from New Jersey would bring a variety of environmental challenges.
This includes the need to construct transmission infrastructure under the Arthur Kill and the need for filtration to make sure the outside water meets New York City’s pristine standards.
By the way, New Jersey H2O doesn’t taste nearly as good as the tap water New Yorkers are used to.
We had better keep a close watch on everything that has to do with repairs on the Delaware Aqueduct. After all, as the DEP ominously notes, “Staten Island is at the far end of the city’s distribution system.”
The temptation to shut us off entirely from access to reservoir water from upstate has to be vigorously resisted.
In a letter to the editor published in today’s Advance, Bob Olivari, of Randall Manor, sums up the concern in a just few words: Staten Island could go from being the “Forgotten Borough” to being the “Bypassed Borough.”
He’s right. The city wouldn’t dare try to foist this scheme off on the residents of any other borough.
It speaks volumes about these officials’ view of this borough that they are actually considering trying to foist it off on Staten Islanders.