NYC Drinking Water May Now Taste Like Dirt as Catskill Aqueduct Closes for Repairs

Edited by: TJVNews.com

If you are a New York City resident who regularly drinks tap water, it is high time to reassess your decision. According to a report in the New York Post, this month, New York City has closed the Catskill Aqueduct which brings drinking water from the Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster County to the city for a 15-week repair project.

This has led to city drinking water tasting like dirt and the smell is pretty foul as well.

On its web site, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has said that, “these changes might cause some New Yorkers to notice that their drinking water tastes different. The change in smell or taste might be unpleasant, but DEP can assure you that it is temporary, seasonal, and 100 percent harmless.”

The Post reported that the agency said “two naturally occurring organic compounds” — called MIB and geosmin — “get into our water late in the year as aquatic plants and microorganisms living in our reservoirs begin to die until the next growing season.”

The Department of Environmental Protection also said that, “Human noses and taste buds can detect MIB at ultra-low concentrations. In fact, people who are sensitive to these compounds can detect them at concentrations as low as 10 parts per trillion … equal to 10 grains of sand in an Olympic swimming pool.”

As to what can be done to resolve this dilemma, the DEP says that little will help. They said that home water filters will not work is changing the water’s taste but does recommend that people leave a pitcher of water in their refrigerators overnight before drinking. If that does not help, they suggested adding some lemon juice to cut the horrid taste.

The DEP has reminded people that, “New York City gets its drinking water from massive reservoirs that are located in different parts of the state, surrounded by different rocks and soil, and subject to natural processes that change their ecology. Colder temperatures in autumn cause water within our reservoirs to circulate from top to bottom, which can make the water taste different. The dropping temperatures also cause aquatic plants to produce organic compounds that can temporarily change the taste of the water. These harmless compounds are the same ones that give beets and corn their earthy flavor. As the deep cold of winter sets in, they typically go away.”

The Post reported that the city received 29 complaints about water quality from October 1st through Wednesday. Some people described musty odors emanating from the water while others said that water had a bitter or metallic taste to it.

The Post reported that the DEP also has said that now that the Catskill Aqueduct is closed, the alternative has been the Croton system. This system normally provides approximately 10 percent of the city’s water, but now provides up to 30 percent.

Next year, the city will close the larger Delaware Aqueduct as part of a $1 billion repair project, according to the DEP. The Catskill Aqueduct was closed in order to ensure that it is in top notch condition for that and valves as well as leaks were in need of repair to make sure that it can handle the job of transporting water to the city.

The Post reported that the Delaware Aqueduct is a giant pipe nearly 20 feet in diameter and is 85 miles long. It carries about half of the city’s water supply from Rondout Reservoir in Ulster County.