e a r l y e u r o p e a n s e t t l e r sWhen Europeanexplorers f i rs t landedon the shores of whatis now known asManhat tan , they re l iedon sha l low wel lsunder pr ivateownersh ip to obta inwater for bath ing ,cook ing , and c lean ing .For t a t Bowl ing Greenbecame area 's f i rs tpubl ic wel l in la te17th century
c h a n g e s t o a c c o m m o d a t eg r o w i n g p o p u l a t i o n
A reservo i r was bu i l t betweenWhi te and Pear l S t reets onBroadway ’s eastern s ide in1776 to pump water f romnearby ponds and wel ls ;d is t r ibuted through s t reets v iahol low logs .Sunken wel l const ructed in1800 by the Manhat tanCompany at Cent re and ReadeStreetsI ron p ipes f i rs t used in 1830
m o r e a d v a n c e d s o l u t i o n sOld Croton Aqueductconst ructed in 1842 tot ranspor t water f romWestchester County in toNYC; car ry approx imate ly90 mi l l ion ga l lons of watereach dayDis t r ibut ion reservo i rs andanother aqueduct bu i l t overnext 8 decades , lay ingfoundat ion for NYC'spresent water system
e n t e r i n g t h e 2 0 t h c e n t u r y
Board of Water Supply
founded in 1905
Catsk i l l Aqueduct and
Ashokan Reservo i r
const ructed
Pro ject completed in 1915
m o r e d e v e l o p m e n t sIn 1928 , Board of Water
Supply approved to develop
the Delaware R iver ’s
t r ibutar ies and the Rondout
watershed ’s upper por t ion
wi th in the s ta te
Const ruct ion began in 1937 ,
completed wi th bu i ld ing of
Cannosv i l le Reservo i r in 1964
B e s t o f t h e b e s tToday , New York C i ty has
one of the best water
systems in the nat ion
95% of water supply reaches
customers by grav i ty , on ly
5% pumped
As a resul t , operat ing costs
are genera l ly not t ied to
changes in cost of power