What are problems for a reservoir system?

    Some of the water from these reservoirs goes into nearby rivers.  The people at the Water Authority have to watch river levels and make sure that they are not storing so much water that the river levels go down.  Imagine what it would be like if you were out on the river in a boat--and water levels dropped very low!  The Water Authority is very careful about this, though.
    We asked about 9/11 and its effect on the reservoir system.  We were told that access is very limited to any water facility in the state and that they have very good emergency plans.  There are also backup water sources just in case.  This is a good thing to know, since other things can happen like drought or pipe problems.
    The Water Authority works very hard to keep everything working well.  When we were in the facility, we took a ride around the reservoir and saw a piece of pipe that had broken down after years of use.  We saw that:

    The piece of pipe that we are standing in was made of concrete with heavy rods inside of it.  At regular times, the water is shut off in the pipes and people walk through for inspection.  They hit the sides with a hammer.  They can tell if something is wrong just by listening to the sound that the hammer makes.  This piece had broken rods inside the cement.  If your town buys its water from a water authority, then pipes like these are used. 

    All of our team members spent lots of time visiting many different reservoirs.  We [the New York team members] made a class trip to the Pepacton reservoir.  It was huge. Two Department of Environmental Protection [D.E.P.] officers told us about the reservoir.
    The D.E.P. people said that the police officers are patrolling the reservoir twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  If someone throws a bottle in the reservoir, the officers just leave it there. If someone puts a barrel or something large into the reservoir, the D.E.P. takes it out.
    How do they take it out? Taking objects out of the water is complicated. Depending on the size of the object, the D.E.P. can send a scuba diver, boat or even a crane to retrieve it. They really take care of that reservoir. 
    The Pepacton is a vast reservoir; the largest in the New York water system. It is located in the Catskill Park. It’s about 15 miles long and holds about 140.2 billion gallons of water at its full capacity. It gives New York City 25% of its water so it is very important to its water supply.   It’s been giving the city water for almost fifty years and will for future generations.