By rosebell
Stretching from Kensico to Eastview, the 3.2km-long tunnel project with US$1.9bn value started in New York City, whereas its facilities upgrade and is due to improve the operation flexibility of drinking water supply for more than 9 million people in the City and southern Westchester County.
As New York City’s largest water tunneling project in Westchester County since the 1940s, this new tunnel between Kensico Reservoir and the Catskill-Delaware Ultraviolet Light Disinfection Facility in Eastview will provide additional infrastructure, giving the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) the ability to take other facilities out of service for periodic maintenance and inspection.
According to DEP commissioner Rohit T Aggarwala: “Creating additional redundancy in our vital water supply system is an essential investment for the long-term resilience of the remarkable feat of engineering that provides more than 9 million New Yorkers with a reliable supply of pristine tap water.This project will help us fulfil our commitment to providing consistent and reliable delivery of the highest-quality water to New York City and the growing population centres in Westchester County.”
Preparation of site at the DEP campus adjacent to Kensico Reservoir, digging the two large shafts 122-153m deep, as well as building the 8.3m diameter tunnel between the two shafts, and new facilities and upgrades at the Kensico campus, are the contents of the first phase of construction., while these involve upgrading and enlarging a century-old intake chamber at Kensico Reservoir to draw water into the new tunnel, and improving the reservoir’s shoreline around the chamber to prevent sediment escaping into the new tunnel.
Additionall, in order to receiving water from the new tunnel, DEP is going to build a connection chamber at CDUV in Eastview.
The scheduled date for inaugurating this new tunnel with capacity to carry 2.6 billion gallons of water a day, is 2035.
Considering that Kensico Reservoir is a vital component of New York City’s Catskill-Delaware Water Supply System, it is located north of White Plains and stores almost 30 billion gallons of water at full capacity. With the aim of providing demand of 8.6 million residents in the five boroughs of New York City and approximately 500,000 residents of Westchester County, DEP draws about 1 billion gallons of drinking water from Kensico Reservoir each day.
