Champagne & Shadows
The Consequences of the New York City Water System
Introduction
What would you consider to be New York City's (NYC) most important liquid asset? Eric A. Goldstein, a senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council would argue that it is the city's water system, with the subway network being a close second (Hu 2018). The NYC water system has been described as “one of the most prodigious public works projects in history” (Campbell Jr. 2006), likened to the fame of the aqueduct system to quench the thirst of the great city of Rome. It's water is considered by many to be the "champagne of tap water" due to the natural high quality and a lack of filtration requirements. However, NYC’s search for water has left a legacy of displacement and destruction in its wake. The Board of Water Supply (BWS) and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) were formed to help manage the water supply construction projects but also as a police force to look after the city’s water interests.
Demolition of West Shokan for the Ashokan Reservoir (Olive Free Library)
Along with expanding the Croton system and Catskill/Delaware systems, the BWS and DEP have put in great effort and money to acquire land holdings separate from reservoir construction land takings to maintain riparian barriers and to prevent developments that could cause pollution in order to not require filtration. The buildings on NYC land surrounding the reservoirs were eventually demolished and the lands afforested. The land not directly surrounding the reservoirs were acquired later and only if they did not have viable housing on the property (Licata 2010). As a result of this, many people would destroy buildings or leave them to decay to be able to sell the land to the DEP. The land takings from the people of these various valleys has been considered an “internal colonial presence” (Spencer-Wood 2016) and has pitted urban political power over those of rural states. The holding of this large amount of property has greatly shaped these areas and has prevented industry and development from moving in and bringing money to the communities (Beisaw 2016). Overall, the goal of this project was to addresses the number of buildings that were both submerged by reservoir waters and those that were located on NYC land holdings. Later in the story, there will be a map tour exploring the specific numbers, details, and history of the water supply.
Process
Under the guidance of Dr. April Beisaw, associate professor of Anthropology at Vassar College, myself and two other students worked to research the important personal and historical stories tied to the NYC Water System construction and land takings. I was tasked with mapping out these land takings through the myriad of buildings that used to scatter both the Hudson Valley and Catskills landscape.
Beginning this process, each reservoir was separated by their individual watershed. Therefore, all DEP owned land parcels were associated with the respective reservoir based on sub-watershed boundaries. In total, there are 19 reservoirs and 3 watersheds (with 19 sub-watersheds).
1892 Topographic Map of Tarrytown (USGS)
To understand the locations of historic buildings, the USGS database of historic topographic maps was used. Using the timeframe of construction for each reservoir, the topographic map most closely published before dam construction was used for information. The locations of all buildings located under the reservoirs or on DEP land were documented and marked as well as any further information: if marked as a church, school, or cemetery.
In collaboration with my fellow students, Beers Atlas maps (1860-1870) were used to gather data to document the historical owners of various buildings to help discover stories that need telling. Along with research, community hikes were planned and led through various properties located around the Neversink, Rondout, and Ashokan Reservoirs. Stories from community members were collected. All of this information has been skillfully compiled in these linked story maps.
Exploration of Ruins
Flooding of a Town (Olive Free Library)
For all the reservoirs, 1925 buildings were located on property obtained by both the BWS and DEP to create the NYC water supply. One thousand one hundred and twenty seven of these buildings were submerged and 793 buildings were on lands around the reservoirs. These building locations are shwon on the map below. Only 416 buildings are associated with the creation of the dams and reservoirs in the Croton watershed. With 12 reservoirs in this area, the average buildings obtained per reservoir is around 35 buildings. The rest, 1,506 buildings, were located in the Catskills/Delaware watershed system. With 7 reservoirs in this system, the average buildings obtained per reservoir is around 215 buildings. This data directly contradicts the idea that the Catskills are sparsely populated and an ideal location for minimal collateral damage. This map tour will follow history through the New York City watershed. The number of obtained buildings is listed alongside its corresponding reservoir.
Early New York City
18 th century New Yorkers received their water from hundreds of private and public wells around the city that tapped into an underground system of waterways. People also disposed of waste as a private matter and relied on the city’s river system, specifically those affected by the tides, as a dumping ground. The tides would pull the waste out to sea.
Plan of New York City 1775 (Library of Congress)
Poor sanitation practices led to water contamination and a series of mosquito-borne illness epidemics such as yellow fever. This was due to the ideal locations for mosquito breeding grounds found in contaminated water sources and dirty streets.
Colles' Reservoir
The first attempt to construct a reservoir on the island of Manhattan was proposed by Christopher Colles in 1774, an Irish engineer, on what would be known as Broadway.
Water-Works Paper 4 Shilling (Gaine 1775)
This bank note was designed to finance Colles' waterworks project. It has a diagram of a Newcomen-type engine with two fountains on the side. (Koeppel 2000)
Cholera Epidemic
However, no severe actions were taken until the 1830s. During this decade, there was a horrible cholera pandemic. As stated by Gerard Koeppel in his work Water for Gotham: A History, “chemical analysis on gallon samples of well water yielded 126 grains of organic and inorganic waste” likely from “the city’s human and animal occupants as the source of an ‘almost incredible’ hundred tons of excrement a day” (Koeppel 2000). Over 100,000 people left New York City to escape the sickness while 3,500 died of the disease.
Cholera Spread of the Summer of 1832 (New York Public Library)
This led to an inquiry to find fresh and clean water. This was found up the Hudson River at the Croton watershed. The ambitious plan for a new water system was proposed and voted into fruition. The Croton Water system would be built, as well as a 41 mile aqueduct, transporting the water to Manhattan.
Murray Hill Reservoir
The man-made structure was a four story tall open top water tank, which at the time, was much taller than the surrounding landscape. The reservoir became an affluent area in New York City where people would walk beside or along the basin’s parapets. (Soll 2013)
View of Murray Hill Distributing Reservoir (Currier 1842)
However, as described by David Soll, the source of New Yorkers’ water was not something they saw every day and was not concrete in their imaginations, therefore they treated water more as a commodity as time passed. Along with the urban growth of fifth avenue, the concrete goliath became visually unappealing to those living in the elite neighborhood and appealed to the city for it to be torn down, at first, this proposal was rejected. It was argued that its presence was necessary in case of accidental water cut offs. The Board of Fire Underwriters worried about the reservoirs removal since firefighters used its water to fight large fires. It was later voted to be replaced by a new New York Public Library. (Soll 2013)
Currently, the New York Public Library remains on the old plot where the Murray Hill Reservoir once stood. (Soll 2013)
NYC Public Library (Irving 1914)
Croton Watershed
The Croton System by the end of its construction included 12 reservoirs, 3 controlled lakes, a 41-mile aqueduct, the high bridge over the Harlem River, and two receiving reservoirs in the city.
In the case of this research, Boyd's Corner reservoir and West Branch reservoir are considered a part of the Croton watershed system due to their early construction and previous role
Survey Map of the Croton Watershed
The Croton Aqueduct
The Croton Aqueduct (Red Line) was built alongside the Old Croton Dam and was completed with a total length of 41 miles long. The inspiration of the Roman aqueduct system inspired the design for the high bridge with its large arches that crosses the Harlem River as a continuation of the aqueduct. The water would flow from the reservoir known as Croton Lake into the Yorkville Receiving Reservoir in Central Park and then to the Murray Hill Reservoir.
High Bridge Over the Harlem River (Illustrated London News 1850)
The Old Croton Dam
This dam project was put into affect along with the Croton aqueduct. Both features relied heavily on the labor of Irish immigrants. While raising the water level upstream by around 40 feet, the dam helped to control and lower the raging waters of the Croton river.
Croton Dam Downstream Illustration (Historic American Engineering Record 1968)
However, during construction, most of the dam was swept away in a powerful storm, causing massive damage to the valley below: many lives were lost. New York City was forced to pay restitutions to the families affected. (Tompkins 2000)
The New Croton Dam and Reservoir
The New Croton Dam was constructed between 1892 and 1906 and put into service in 1905. The reservoir holds 19 billion gallons. There were 63 buildings destroyed: 46 were submerged and 17 were located on DEP property. The building of this larger reservoir sunk the centers of the villages of Huntersville and Cornell. It was constructed to expand the Croton system to meet with the ever increasing demand of New York City, as was the case with most of the Croton Watershed reservoirs.
Ossining, New York: spillway bridge, New Croton Dam, undated. (Hall & Son 1876-1914)
Boyd's Corners Reservoir
The Boyd’s Corners Dam was built between 1866 and 1873 and was put into service in 1873. The reservoir holds 1.7 billion gallons. There were 44 buildings destroyed: 8 were submerged and 36 were located on DEP property. Part of the village of Boyd’s Corners was sunk and Hazen Corner was taken by DEP land purchase.
Boyd’s Corners was the first site sited for the expansion of the Croton system after the building of the Old Croton Dam. The work of improving water supply infrastructure during this time was “compromised by corruption” (Bone 2006) with William Tweed as first commissioner during the Boss Tweed era. The Boyd's Corners reservoir later became a receiving reservoir for the Delaware watershed along with the West Branch reservoir.
Middle Branch Reservoir
The Middle Branch Dam was constructed between 1866 and 1873 and was put into service in 1878. The reservoir holds 4.1 billion gallons. There were 8 buildings destroyed: 6 were submerged and 2 were located on DEP property. The reservoir submerged the areas of Kelley’s Corner and partially submerged Fowler’s Ridge (known as Tilly Foster today).
East Branch Reservoir
The East Branch Dam or Sodom Dam was constructed between 1874 and 1878 and was put into service in 1891. The reservoir holds 5.2 billion gallons of water. There were 19 Buildings destroyed: 13 were submerged and 6 were located on DEP property.
Bog Brook Reservoir
The Bog Brook Dams were constructed between 1884 and 1893 and put into service in 1892. The reservoir holds 4.4 billion gallons of water. There were 2 buildings destroyed, both on DEP property, none were submerged.
Titicus Reservoir
The Titicus Dam was constructed between 1890 and 1896 and put into service in 1893. The reservoir holds 7.2 billion gallons. There were 20 buildings destroyed: 9 were submerged and 11 were located on DEP property. The community of Wheeler Mills was submerged by the Reservoir.
West Branch Reservoir
The West Branch Dam was constructed between 1890 and 1896 and put into service 1895. The reservoir holds 8 billion gallons. There were 31 buildings destroyed: 13 were submerged and 18 were located on DEP property.
Amawalk Reservoir
The Amawalk Dam was constructed between 1889 and 1897 and put into service in 1897. The reservoir holds 6.7 billion gallons. There were 33 buildings destroyed: 19 were submerged and 14 were located on DEP property. The reservoir sunk the center of the community of Somers.
Muscoot Reservoir
The Muscoot reservoir was put into service in 1905 and holds 4.9 billion gallons. There were 59 buildings destroyed: 24 were submerged and 35 were located on DEP property. The reservoir sunk part of the community of Katonah.
Cross River Reservoir
The Cross River Dam was constructed between 1906 and 1908 and put into service in 1908. The reservoir holds 10.3 billion gallons. There were 38 buildings destroyed: 20 were submerged and 18 were located on DEP property.
Croton Falls Reservoir
The Crotons Falls Dam was constructed between 1906 and 1911 and put into service in 1911. The reservoir holds 14.2 billion gallons. There were 66 buildings destroyed: 43 were submerged and 23 were located on DEP property.
Diverting Reservoir
It is also known as the Croton Falls Diverting Dam and Reservoir. It was constructed between 1906 and 1911 and put into service in 1911. The reservoir holds 900 million gallons. There were 33 buildings destroyed: 6 were submerged and 27 were located on DEP property.
The Catskill System
The Catskill Watershed System includes the two reservoirs: Ashokan and Schoharie. The Catskill Aqueduct transports the water from these reservoirs to the Kensico Reservoir and then to New York City.
Catskill Mountains (Library of Congress)
Ashokan Reservoir
The Ashokan Dams were constructed between 190 and 1915 and was put into service in 1915. The reservoir holds 122.9 billion gallons of water. There were 466 buildings destroyed: 306 were submerged and 160 were located on DEP property.
Reservoir Construction (Olive Free Library)
The Ashokan is the largest reservoir in the system and supplies around 40% of New York City’s water. Around two thousand residents were evacuated with 4 hamlets being completely sunk and 8 others being relocated (Catskill Watershed Corporation 2017).
Schoharie Reservoir
The Schoharie Dam was constructed between 1919 and 1927 and put into service in 1926. The reservoir holds 17.6 billion gallons of water. There were 119 buildings destroyed: 24 were submerged and 92 were located on DEP property. The dam was built in great proximity to the community of Gilboa which was later sunk.
Delaware Watershed System
The Delaware Watershed system includes 4 reservoirs (5 including Kensico receiving reservoir) and the world’s longest continuous pressure tunnel in the world (Bone 2006), the Delaware aqueduct. Delaware water flows through the Rondout reservoir and then into Boyd’s Corners, West Branch, Kensico, and lastly, New York City.
Delaware Aqueduct
The Delaware Aqueduct (Orange Line) is comprised of an 85 mile long main section, an aqueduct connecting Neversink and Rondout, as well as the two lines from the Pepacton and Cannonsville. It is the longest aqueduct in the New York Water Supply with over 170 miles of tunnels.
Delaware Aqueduct Construction (General Electric 1950)
Rondout Reservoir
The Rondout Dam was constructed between 1937 and 1954 and was put into service in 1950. The reservoir holds 17.6 billion gallons of water. There were 148 buildings destroyed: 105 were submerged and 43 were located on DEP property. The completion of the reservoir sunk the communities of Eureka, Montela, and Lackawack.
Merriman Dam & Rondout Reservoir (Ellensville Public Library)
Neversink Reservoir
The Neversink Dam was constructed between 1941 and 1953 and was put into service in 1954. The reservoir holds 34.9 billion gallons of water. There were 116 buildings destroyed: 76 were submerged and 40 were located on DEP property. The completion of the reservoir sunk the communities of Neversink and Bittersweet.
Pepacton Reservoir
The Pepacton Dam was constructed between 1947 and 1954 and was put into service in 1955. The reservoir holds 140.2 billion gallons of water. There were 280 buildings destroyed: 204 were submerged and 76 were located on DEP property. The Reservoir sunk 4 communities: Arena, Pepacton, Shavertown, and Union Grove.
Cannonsville Reservoir
The Cannonsville Dam was constructed between 1955 and 1967 and was put into service in 1964. The reservoir holds 95.7 billion gallons of water. There were 339 buildings destroyed: 168 were submerged and 171 were located on DEP property. The 5 communities of Beerston, Cannonsville, Rock Rift, Rock Royal, and Granton were sunk to make room for the reservoir.
Land Clearing
While the idea of an entire town lying dormant and rotting under reservoir waters gives hauntingly attractive and nostalgic picture, this was not the case. Part of the labor completed to build the reservoirs included clearing and excavating the land underneath the predicted water line.
Application to Remove Bodies from a Cemetery (Olive Free Library)
A pamphlet published in 1909 described the work for the Ashokan reservoir and was later discovered by Bob Steuding stating that “all buildings, trees, and other vegetable matter will be either removed, burned, or hauled away” (Steuding 1985). Essentially, all buildings under the predicted water line “were either destroyed or dismantled and sold as buildings materials" (Steuding 1985). The BWS would also seize buildings, but allow families to pay rent and live in their former houses until the building needed to be cleared. On a darker note, thousands of bodies were disinterred and moved out of reservoir areas if a cemetery was located in the water line. The Board of Water Supply allocated the sum of $15 of a friend or relative of the deceased to complete the disinterment and removal of an individual at the Ashokan reservoir and it is assumed that similar conditions were present at other Catskill/Delaware reservoirs (Steuding 1985). Large amounts of effort were put into clearing the land, but remnants of old roads and stone walls remain whenever a reservoir is drained.
While there is no fully sunken town, this model can help visualize where the downtown area of Neversink was compared to the reservoir water levels. The black lines are roads and the white squares are buildings referenced from the 1910 (1947 edition) topographic map of Neversink, NY (Topo View). This model is able to be rotated to see the topography that made this an attractive area for NYC water:
Explore Neversink:
Neversink Topographic Model
Conclusion
The idea that land can be treated like an inorganic commodity is fictitious. While the land in these reservoirs was just land to the management in the BWS and DEP, it was not just land to the people and communities who lived there, some for generations. There is knowledge that is passed down through people as time moves on in a community, and by evacuating communities out of these valleys have stripped people of their wealth of knowledge, memories, and history (Beisaw 2016).
General Plan of Croton Dam (Jervis Public Library)
Why is calculating the destruction caused by the New York City Water Supply important? What do all of these numbers mean? It is important to address this destruction to better understand its consequences on land development and the empirical power of urban cities. New York City projected the idea of pristine wilderness in the Catskills to push their water supply projects through the state government. However, this scenario was not the case. The creation of the Catskill/Delaware system displaced more buildings than the creation of the Croton watershed system. What pushed the New York City government to upstate was the legendary high quality of Catskill waters which led to a resistance of filtering the water coming into the city. This led to increased land takings surrounding the Catskill/Delaware reservoirs to help maintain water quality. This grabbing of land in turn prevents development and money from coming into the communities. These numbers help give context for those trying to understand the scale of ruination of these communities. In conclusion, water does have a cost, especially with the quality of champagne.
Explore
Explore the New York City Water Supply Map
New York City Water System Destruction Map
Works Cited
Publications
Appleton, Albert, Kevin Bone, Peter Gleick, and Gerard Koeppel. Water-Works: The Architecture and Engineering of the New York City Water Supply. Edited by Kevin Bone. New York City: The Monacelli Press, 2006.
Beisaw, April. “Water for the City, Ruins for the Country: Archaeology of the New York City Watershed.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 20, no. 3 (2016): https://www.jstor.org/stable/26174313
“History of the NYC Water Supply.” Catskill Watershed Corporation. 2017. https://cwconline.org/history-of-the-nyc-water-supply/
Holloway, Caswell, Commisioner. Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) The Extended New York City Watershed Land Acquisition Program, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Dec. 10, 2010, https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dep/downloads/pdf/environmental-reviews/extended-nyc-watershed-land-acquisition-program/extended-lap-feis.pdf
Koeppel, Gerard T. Water for Gotham: A History. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Soll, David. Empire of Water: An Environmental and Political History of the New York City Water Supply. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2013.
Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M. “Feminist Theorizing of Patriarchal Colonialism, Power Dynamics, and Social Agency Materialized in Colonial Institutions.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 20, no. 3 (2016): 477–91. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26174303.
Steuding, Bob. The Last of the Handmade Dams: The Story of the Ashokan Reservoir.
Tompkins, Christopher. The Croton Dams and Aqueduct. Charleston: Acadia Publishing, 2000.
“TopoView.” United States Geological Survey. Accessed July 5, 2022. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#4/40.03/-100.00
Images
Historic American Engineering Record, Creator, John B Jervis, Stephen Allen, David Bates Douglass, Christopher Colles, Aaron Burr, The Manhattan Company, et al., Boucher, Jack, photographer. Old Croton Aqueduct, New York County, NY. New York New York County, 1968. translated by Clement, Danielmitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/ny1181/.
“View of the Distributing Reservoir: On Murrays Hill, City of New York.” N. Currier. View of City of New York. , ca. 1842. New York: Published by N. Currier. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2002698130/.
Underhill, Irving, -1960, photographer. New York Public Library. New York, ca. 1914. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/90713158/.
"Supply of New York with Water." Illustrated London News, 9 Mar. 1850, pp. 157+. The Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003, link.gale.com/apps/doc/HN3100024204/ILN?u=nysl_se_vassar&sid=bookmark-ILN&xid=692d265f. Accessed 29 June 2022.
Ashokan Reservoir Collection, Olive Free Library. “Application to Remove Bodies from Cemeteries.” New York Heritage Digital Collections. Accessed July 3, 2022. https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll149/id/502/rec/108
Life Before the Reservoir, Olive Free Library. “Demolition of West Shokan.” New York Heritage Digital Collections. Accessed July 1, 2022. https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll149/id/863/rec/104
Ashokan Reservoir Collection, Olive Free Library. “Flooding a Town.” New York Heritage Digital Collections. Accessed July 2, 2022. https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll149/id/148/rec/132
“Paper 4 Shilling of New York Water Works,” Printed by H. Gaine. American Numismatic Society (1775): http://numismatics.org/collection/0000.999.29207
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Plan of New York City of New-York and its environs to Greenwich . . .Town. Survey'd in the winter, 1775" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed July 2, 2022. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/5e66b3e8-7f95-d471-e040-e00a180654d7
General Research Division, The New York Public Library. "Map of New York City showing the spread of the cholera outbreak in the Summer of 1832" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed July 2, 2022. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/fdfcd7e0-b9eb-0136-e0b5-1932bdbd30b7
George P. Hall & Son photograph collection, ca. 1876-1914, New York Historical Society. “Ossining, New York: spillway bridge, New Croton Dam, undated.” New York Heritage Digital Collections. Accessed July 5, 2022. https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16124coll2/id/25006/rec/
Rondout Reservoir Collection, Ellenville Public Library & Museum. “Merriman Dam and Rondout Reservoir.” New York Heritage Digital Collections. Accessed July 6, 2022. https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/eplm/id/1184/rec/1
Ashokan Reservoir Collection, Olive Free Library. “Reservoir Construction.” New York Heritage Digital Collections. Accessed July 6, 2022. https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll149/id/677/rec/10
John B. Jervis Drawings, Jervis Public Library. "General Plan and Elevations of Croton Dam." New York Heritage Digital Collections. Access July 6, 2022. https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll17/id/544/rec/20
Catskill Mountains. New York Catskill Mountains, None. [Between 1860 and 1880] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017660488/.
General Electric Photographs, Museum of Innovation and Science. “Delaware Aqueduct.” New York Heritage Digital Collections. Accessed July 6, 2022. https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll20/id/9188/rec/2
