Out of the Archives: 75 Years of Delaware System Water
Shortly before noon on April 5, 1944, Mayor LaGuardia opened the gates of a temporary emergency tunnel and channeled the waters of Rondout Creek directly into the Delaware Aqueduct. This marked the first time that the entire 85 miles of the Delaware Aqueduct — the longest continuous tunnel in the world — was in operation and the first delivery of water from the Delaware System into the city.
That same year, construction on the Delaware System ground to a halt when restrictions imposed by the United States War Production Board made it impossible to obtain essential equipment and material for building. Many construction contracts were terminated, and partially completed projects were interrupted, including the contract for Merriman Dam — the dam that would form Rondout Reservoir. Fortunately, the Delaware Aqueduct was mostly finished except for the contracts to fabricate and install its permanent control equipment. For now, the solution was to convey the waters of the creek directly into the aqueduct through an emergency tunnel on a temporary basis until construction of the reservoir and its valves were finished.
An Emergency Water Supply
At the same time that the city was forced to suspend construction on the Delaware System, water consumption in the city and in upstate communities was climbing at unprecedented rates. Water storage in Catskill and Croton Reservoirs was billions of gallons below capacity. The city was facing a critical water shortage and the emergency supply from Rondout Creek was the last and only opportunity to secure additional water to tide the city over until construction could resume.
Even with the emergency supply from Rondout Creek, the city’s water situation continued to be precarious. The creek’s estimated yield of 100 million gallons per day (MGD), was solely dependent on the rainfall and snowmelt in any given year. In April 1944, the water diverted from Rondout Creek peaked at 253 MGD then dwindled to 7 MGD in August. Still, the extra water from the Delaware System helped to reduce the volume of water leaving the Catskill System at Ashokan Reservoir and temporarily built up its reserves. For the duration of the war, and for nearly ten years following, New York City depended on this emergency supply to supplement its other sources and to avoid a water shortage.
Delaware System Construction Pre-1944
Construction on the Delaware System started in 1937. For the first four years, work advanced rapidly, especially on the Delaware Aqueduct. By 1939, sections of the tunnel nearest to the city were ready for concrete and by 1942, all 85 miles were excavated. Progress slowed after the United States entered World War II in December 1941, when it became increasingly difficult for the Board of Water Supply to secure equipment and material under the requirements of the War Production Board program.
Still, with mounting concerns over the possibility that the Catskill Aqueduct could be damaged by sabotage or air strike, the Board of Water Supply made it a priority to complete the Delaware Aqueduct and place it into service as an alternate means for delivering water into the city before all work stopped. With its connections to the city’s other two water supply systems (it connects to the Croton System at West Branch Reservoir and to the Catskill System at Kensico Reservoir), the city was able to deliver larger volumes of water from both systems than was otherwise possible. The new aqueduct was placed into service in stages starting with the tunnel between Kensico and Hillview Reservoirs (activated April 28, 1942), followed by the tunnel between West Branch and Kensico Reservoirs (activated March 3, 1943), and concluding with the northernmost tunnel between the future Rondout Reservoir and West Branch Reservoir (activated April 5, 1944). The temporary emergency tunnel that would capture and direct Rondout Creek into the Delaware Aqueduct was one of the last projects completed before work stopped in 1944.
Post-War Delaware System Construction
Work on the Delaware System resumed within months after the war ended in 1945. Some of the first contracts to be awarded involved furnishing, testing and delivering equipment for operating the Delaware Aqueduct. And in 1946, contract 390 was awarded to complete Merriman Dam.
By the end of 1953, the emergency tunnel that had saved the city from water famine was plugged. Merriman Dam and Rondout Reservoir were substantially completed that same year and the Delaware Aqueduct was in near permanent operation. Two more reservoirs were completed and operating within the next several years and the final project to build Cannonsville Reservoir was completed by 1965, bringing the Delaware System project to a close, nearly thirty years after it started.
The Delaware System
The Delaware Aqueduct connects Rondout Reservoir in the Catskill Mountains to Hillview Reservoir on the border between Yonkers and NYC. The Delaware System is comprised of four reservoirs — Cannonsville, Pepacton, Neversink and Rondout — and 160 miles of aqueduct. Today, it supplies over 50 percent of New York City’s drinking water.
Sources
1. Board of Water Supply. Annual Reports. 1937, 1938, 1939; 1940–1946; 1947, 1951, 1952, 1953.
2. Board of Water Supply. The Water Supply of the City of New York: A Volume Descriptive of its Sources, Storage Reservoirs and Transportation with Certain Construction Features of the Catskill, Delaware and Interconnected Water Supply Systems. September 1950. (Alternate title: Origin and Achievements of the Board of Water Supply, City of New York)
3. Board of Water Supply Correspondence, Record Inventory 11 (RI011):
a. Communication 85411, May 1941 (box 1891)
b. Communication 91036, 6/8/1943 (box 1883)
c. Communication 93019, 7/18/1944 (box 1887)
d. Communication 93494, March 1945 (box 1869)
4. Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity. Annual Reports. 1944, 1953.
5. Board of Water Supply. Delaware Water Supply News.
a. “The Location of the Tunnel and Shafts of the Delaware Aqueduct.” Charles M. Clark. May 1, 1939. (DWSN p. 83–86)
b. “Notes on Consumption.” H.G. Irwin. June 15, 1939. (DWSN p. 97–98)
c. “Growth of New York’s Water Supply and Consumption,” (DWSN p. 623)
d. “Unregulated supply of Rondout Creek,” (DWSN p. 643)
6. New York Times. “Bomb-Proof Tube Brings City Water.” 3/31/1943.
7. Scientific American. Vol. 164, №1. “Water for Our Great City.” January 1941, p.24–26. R. G. Skerrett.
8. NYC Department of Environmental Protection. Weekly Pipeline.
a. “An Enduring Legacy: the New Deal’s ‘Water Waste Force.’” November 22, 2011. https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/pipeline/0299_pipeline.pdf
b. “Water Board ‘49ers Flowed to Emerge as New York Giants.” August 28, 2012. https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/pipeline/03139_pipeline.pdf
[Partial] Timeline
1/22/1937: First construction contracts for Delaware Project awarded (DWSN, p.378)
12/7/1941: Attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan
12/8/1941: United States declares war on Japan
1941: Awards for many equipment contracts are delayed due to national defense. “The Board now has an A-2 priority for all work from shafts 17 to the Hillview Reservoir, an A-4 for all work from Rondout Reservoir to Shafts 17 and an A-10 for the Neversink development. (DWSN, p.384)
1942: FDR creates the War Production Board
1943: FDR creates the Office of War Mobilization
1944: On August 22, 1944, contract 340 for the construction of the Merriman Dam was terminated and would not start up again until after the war in 1946.
3/14/1945: War Production Board assigns a preference rating of AA-3 for materials and equipment necessary to resume construction on the Merriman Dam and to complete the Delaware Aqueduct. (DWSN, p. 609)
5/9/1945: V-E Day is proclaimed as Victory in Europe is celebrated
