Audit Raises Fear of ‘Catastrophe’ at Aqueduct
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Drawing attention to what he called a “potential catastrophe,” New York State’s comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, has released an audit that says the city has not made any repairs to an aqueduct that transports more than half of New York City’s drinking water, even though it has known about leaks in the system for 19 years.
Up to 35 million gallons of clean water a day is lost due to leaks in the Delaware Aqueduct System, the report states. The Department of Environmental Protection has known about leaks since 1988 and has no plan to address a potential tunnel collapse, according to the report. New Yorkers consume about 1.2 billion gallons of water a day.
“This more than just lost water; it’s a potential catastrophe,” Mr. DiNapoli said in a statement yesterday. “If the leaks in the tunnel lead to a complete collapse, New York would lose half its drinking water supply in an instant.” He is calling for the tunnel, the primary carrier of the city, to be repaired. “Repairing the tunnel will be costly, but not as costly as shutting down half the city’s water supply,” he said.
A consultant hired by the DEP estimated the likelihood of a tunnel failure had increased and now stands at between .01% and 1%, the audit says, noting that the preferred risk level is .01%. The audit also found that the volume of water leaking from the tunnel is growing. In 1992, between 15 million and 20 million gallons leaked each day.
The comptroller’s audit further notes that the DEP has spent more than $28 million on engineering consultant services since 1998, but has not consistently followed their recommendations.
A spokesman for the DEP, Michael Saucier, said in a statement responding to the audit yesterday that Mr. DiNapoli “erroneously states that the risk of failure for the Delaware Aqueduct has increased” and mischaracterizes the audit’s findings and the condition of the aqueduct.
Mr. Saucier said evidence indicates that the tunnel is stable and noted that the Bloomberg administration has made it a priority to repair the leaks in his roadmap to prepare for a million new city residents by 2030, PlaNYC.
The DEP has started “the process of repairing” the aqueduct, he said, and is designing a long-term repair strategy. The department is scheduled to update its emergency tunnel plan by the end of the year, Mr. Saucier added.
