REPORT25

New York Water Quality

Most people assume that because New York is extremely reliable for products and central for resources, that the water is cleaner. This is pretty much true. On a progress report written by Bureau of Water Assessment and Management, they explain that the water in New York is not as much in trouble with the water quality, but that the Bureau is more concerned about water conservation. Because of the population difference between New York and many other suburbs, there is more of a need for clean water, but because New York uses so much water, we need to think of solutions such as rain barrels and water fixtures, such as this low water flow shower head. An example of water quality in New York is the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. An article by James E Hell explains: “To demonstrate the water "quality," Abu Moulta-Ali, Neighborhood Environmental Program Coordinator at the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment, draws a measure of eau de Gowanus. Passengers cluster around his on-board testing lab. The results? Oxygen: 1.5 parts per million, well below the minimal five per million to sustain life. The opaque Gowanus obstructs sunlight to one third of the six feet needed for aquatic plant growth. Rising gas bubbles betray the decomposition of sewage sludge that overwhelms the ol factories on warm summer days and creates an oxygen-starved biological desert. “ If the Gowanus Canal were to be cleaned up and filtered, we may as the people of New York have access to another water source, and we may be able to conserve more water. But, the start of this would be to stop polluting, which is a major issue. A solution to conserve is shown in Austin, Texas, where the government provides product rebates to companies that use fixtures and ways to conserve water. If this situation was used in New York, we would be able to conserve the water, and have more time to find away to make it cleaner and healthier. Although water conservation is a big issue in New York, the quality of the water is actually quite good compared to other places. This is because New York is one of the five cities in the country who has the option of not filtering their water because it’s so clean, as an article in the New York Times says: "That's largely thanks to a visionary strategy devised a century ago that established an upstate watershed consisting of 19 reservoirs and a system of aqueducts. That enviable system contributed to the phenomenal growth of the city and even now delivers nearly pristine water to 8 million people every day." As we can see, New York’s water is pretty clean, but if we don’t take action in conserving it, we may not have this privilege for very long. the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY

Another issue involving water in New York comes from the pipe and sewer systems underground. The pipes resin on the inside of the pipe can wear down, and start to leak. Many people believe that this phenomenon is as bad as global warming, because a leak in a sewer pipe can cause the water to become contaminated, and therefore causing people to die of water contamination, thirst, and even starvation because people rely on water to cook food. Although this is a problem, it provides us with an easy solution. All we need to do is cover the inside of the pipes with resin and then we will reduce the chance of a pipe leaking, and therefore conserving water that we can use every day. There are around 8 million people in New York, so the water conserved by putting resins in the pipe will save most of them. Some solutions for water conservation in New York are available to us. An example is a [|water barrel], where we could put on the roof to collect rainwater, and use that water for cooking, and save the water from the tap for drinking. This would be extremely simple, and we could make the barrels out of recycled plastic. Another solution is provided by an article from the New York Times: "One possible answer to this is to enlist the assistance of nonprofit land trusts and organizations with expertise in conserving land through purchases and negotiated easements, like the Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land and the Open Space Institute. The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group and a longtime watchdog in the watershed, has recommended spending $350 million over the next 10 years on land acquisition -- a cost that the state should share with the city. That amount could buy 100,000 acres. James Tierney, the watershed inspector general and assistant attorney general for the state, says the target should be 150,000 acres in the next decade. Even that seems reasonable if it will hold off the day of reckoning on filtration."

With this solution we would be able to filter our water and keep it clean for longer, and would therefore give us more time to solve the water crisis in the long run. So, although New York’s water is so clean, if we don’t act on the water crisis and at least prolong it so that we can find a better solution for the big picture, New York and many other places may die out, because water is the most valuable aspect of our lives, and without it we can only live so long. New York is a lot of the time the center of the world, and many other places rely on us to live their own lives. So the water conservation of New York is not only imperative for us but for the entire world, because other places have been so dependent on us for so long.

media type="youtube" key="bDO3P_mymxw&hl=en" height="355" width="425"This video explains another reason why water conservation is important in NYC.