Filtration, Part I

Filtration, Part I

Alongside Boston, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, New York City is one of five cities in the United States with a largely unfiltered water supply. Ten percent of the city’s water supply is currently filtered by a UV filtration plant that recently opened under Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The plant treats water from the reservoirs surrounded by development in Westchester and Putnam counties. A team of scientists and engineers also work 24/7 alongside monitors to oversee the water quality throughout the watershed. The DEP must make sure the water is kept in pristine condition, which it does by fending off migratory birds from the reservoirs, fixing homeowner’s septic tanks, working with farmers to control manure runoff, and constantly trying to buy more land to prevent the area around the watershed from being paved and polluted.