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Yay! For only the fourth time since it was finished in 1917, the fountain in the Central Park's Reservoir is flowing again. The reservoir, officially named the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in 1994, served as the backdrop for Mayor Bloomberg as he announced that city water supply won't require filtering for at least 10 more years. Yesterday, the EPA granted the city a 10-year waiver on a filtering the water from its Catskill and Delaware systems. The two reservoir systems supply about 90% of the city's water (the Central Park Reservoir no longer supplies drinking water) and the city is one of 5 in the nation that isn't required to filter its water. According to The Post, the waiver saves the city from building two filtration plants which would cost at least $8 billion. Instead, the city will add a new ultraviolet disinfecting facility.
The reservoir fountain, was activated for the 100th anniversary of the Catskill water-supply system. It was last activated for the 150th anniversary of Central Park in 2003 and shoots water 60 feet into the air. Officials said the fountain would remain on through the fall and will be illuminated at night.
Related: Aquafina announced on Friday that their bottles would say their water comes from a public source.
Photo of fountain in Central Park by AP/Mary Altaffer
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Does anyone know where I can find out why the fountain is on so infrequently?
Talk about errors: The "catskill and delaware systems" are not TWO reservoirs. They're two reservoir systems consisting of a total of six reservoirs.
Also, the filtration avoidance deal doesn't prevent the city from building TWO filtration plants -- one filtration plant for the Croton system is already under construction in the Bronx. It only stops the other larger filtration plant that would be needed for the Catskill and Delaware system reservoirs. Finally, the ultraviolet plant is nothing new. It's been under construction for over a year already up in Westchester.
And about that fountain: Unlike other fountains in the city that one in the Central Park reservoir is not recirculating. So all that water is being wasted at a time when the water system is around 6 percent below normal:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/maplevels.html
Hasty editing has changed the error about the two reservoirs vs. the two reservoir systems. At least someone at Gothamist is reading the comments.
Before yesterday, this fountain had only been turned on three ever -- once when it was built to celebrate the opening of the Catskill water system, once in 1998 when the Third Water Tunnel was activated, and in 2003 when Central Park turned 150. There are no pumps in the fountain -- it's fed directly from water tunnel number one, which is really an extension of the Catskill Aqueduct. The water pressure comes from the tunnel. Like I said before, all that water is wasted because it falls into the central park reservoir, which isn't in use any more as a reservoir.
Six percent is hardly a drought.
It should also be noted that this fountain requires no pumping to achieve its height; the pressure is entirely natural. The engineering of the aqueduct system has saved the city immeasurable billions in costs that would be associated with pumping water to get from reservoir to tap.
No, six percent isn't a drought. But droughts happen unpredictably and it's irresponsible to waste all that perfectly good water.
It also violates the city law against non-recirculating fountains. But I guess the mayor doesn't have to worry about that.
Oh, for God's sake. Just enjoy it you nitpickers.
I think I asked this once before, but does anyone know anything about the fountain that used to be in operation off the southern tip of Roosevelt Island? It was just like this one - just a spray of water. I haven't seen it in operation for years and wonder what happened to it.
i think it looks kinda stupid
like a pipe burst
#6:
In 1969, philanthropist George T. Delacorte donated a spectacular water fountain to New York City on the southern tip of Welfare Island. Architects designed the fountain's jet geyser to pump a plume of water from the East River more than 400 feet into the air. Public health experts feared that the water from the heavily polluted East River could be a possible source for the spread of infectious hepatitis. Water droplets could be airborne by the prevailing winds to land on the densely populated east side of Manhattan. Upon the insistence of the New York City Department of Health, the fountain's water intake source was chlorinated. This action was initiated before the discovery of the hepatitis A virus (HAV) in 1973. A miscellany of continuing problems plagued the fountain for about two decades, causing the donor to label the fountain "Delacorte's Folly." Eventually, Delacorte gave up. In the late 1980s, the fountain ceased spouting and was finally dismantled.
source
helluva lotta complainers on this site: get lives, people.
besides #7 is totally right, this looks like a stupid pipe burst.
hmmm, wonder how much this costing us taxpayers...
Thanks KyleC. I'm sorry to hear it was dismantled, but after reading all that I can understand why you don't want to spout East River water into the air.
MT and Kyle - i remember watching that fountain on roosevelt island when i would visit my mom's office as a child. the fountain, the "long island" on the cranes at what's now gantry plaza state park, the pepsi trucks and the sign, and the boats going by are all part of that memory. good times.
I have the same memories tien. I used to watch all that go by way back in the day when I'd go driving up the FDR drive in teh passenger seat of my dad's car. Back then Roosevelt Island was a creepy mysterious place and that fountain was a bizarre oddity that was made sinister because it was attached to it and taking the tram over there was an incredible adventure to a creepy world.
It amazes me when I look over there now at the newly rebuilt octagon building and remember what was there and what it is now.
As long as parts of Roosevelt Island stays haunted, it's OK with me.
roosevelt island isn't creepy anymore?? news to me.
cw11 news last night mentioned that the fountain had been turned off because joggers and pedestrians had complained that the plume of water got them wet on blustery days.
I wondered what happened to that fountain off the tip of Roosevelt Island. I saw it from a taxi on the FDR when I was child during the 80s. I forgot all about it until I visited Hamburg for the 1st time three years ago and saw the fountain in the middle of Binnenalster (a smaller section of a larger lake in the middle of Hamburg near the main railway station). Well, now I know. Thanks.
I wondered what happened to that fountain off the tip of Roosevelt Island. I saw it from a taxi on the FDR when I was child during the 80s. I forgot all about it until I visited Hamburg for the 1st time three years ago and saw the fountain in the middle of Binnenalster (a smaller section of a larger lake in the middle of Hamburg near the main railway station). Well, now I know. Thanks.