Governors Island Needs Water!

A rendering of part of a proposed Governors Island promenade.

The Bloomberg administration is moving forward with an ambitious plan to remake Governors Island into a world-class park, but there's at least one small obstacle to the $260 million project: The island has no safe drinking water. A sign near a water fountain at Battery Marine Terminal in Lower Manhattan tells visitors it's "the last opportunity for free drinking water" before boarding the Governors Island ferry. Before the city can remake the island, divers are going to need to restore the water main running under the Buttermilk Channel from Brooklyn. It hasn't been used since the 1950s, and the Post reports the work will cost at least $4.5 million.

When the Coast Guard occupied the island, the military operated its own island water-filtration system, but the water was eventually deemed unsafe. There is a functioning water main that runs through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, but that water is only used for
restrooms and emergency services. It's unclear if the city will be able to fix the Buttermilk Channel water main, but if not, engineers would have to build a new one. And if that happens—are you sitting down?—the project could go over budget!

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By John Del Signore in News on April 26, 2010 1:53 PM

Comments [rss]

jchez

$260 million project.

$4.5 (make it $5.5) cost for pipeline repair.

It's a no brainer. Fix the pipeline!

negtive

Wow, really? It might go over budget if they have to build a giant piece of the project they didn't originally plan on?

You're as bad as Fox News sometimes Signore.

theLtrain

It's about to get real wild in the haf, you be buyin evian just to take a fuckin' bath.

irritant

I don't understand why the water coming through the "fire safety pipeline" in the Battery Tunnel isn't of drinking quality.

I could see the problem if they tapped into it and the water had been sitting for five years... and they tested the first few gallons. But once it's been flushed through, the rest should be up to spec.

(And they could use the pipe feed from either Brooklyn or Manhattan...).

If that doesn't work, replacing the tunnel's piping should be a lot cheaper than 4.5 million dolars...

Back in the Koch Adminstration, there was a pretty bad water shortage in NJ. Folk over there tapped into the fire suppression pipelines in the Hudson tunnels, fed from NYC, and there was no problem.

There might also have been a quickie 20 or so inch pipeline laid across the GW Bridge walkway. I vaguely remember bumping into it while bicycling across. Maybe.

aprilnyc

I have seen signs at Governor's Island warning that the water is not potable (drinkable). I was wondering if that was island-wide, now I know it is.