Ways to Sustain Clean Water Supply in New York City in the Future - Term Paper Example

In as much as the global supply of freshwater available is more than enough to meet its current and future demands, its temporal and spatial distributions are not (Cosgrove & Loucks, 2015, p. 1). Numerous regions in the world lack adequate water supply to meet environmental, economic development, and domestic needs. Such regions that have inadequate supply of water for sanitation and drinking continue to experience constraints in productivity and human health in addition to challenges in maintaining a healthy ecosystem and clean environment. It is often a challenging task in trying to remove the above constraints, especially with uncertainties in future climatic conditions and robust population growth that drive urbanization, globalization, and social and economic development (Cosgrove & Loucks, 2015, p. 1). Climate change and population growth are factors that affect water supply both in developing and developed nations. Therefore, in as much as people living in developing countries more often than not experience inadequacies in clean and high quality water supply, those residing in the urban centers of developed countries might in the future also future experience similar problems arising from rapid population growth and climate change. Such is the case in the city of New York, a developed urban center, where curbing the ongoing rapid population growth, in addition to combating climate change and the water conservation measures currently in place, could be critical to ensuring a constant supply of high quality water in the future.

In an estimate done by the United States Census Bureau, the population of New York City was approximately 8.5 million as of July 2016 (NYC Department of City Planning, n.d.). This population represented an increase of about 360,000 residents from the decennial census of April 2010 which put the population at about 8.175 million residents. The census marked the first time the city witnessed such a rapid growth in population in more than half-century (NYC Department of City Planning, n.d.). Continued rise in the number of births in comparison to the number of deaths largely contributed to this population growth. The growth was also due to life expectancy which reached record high (NYC Department of City Planning, n.d.). With more than 300,000 residents added between the years 2000 and 2010, New York Citys population is projected to rise by about 780,000 residents between the years 2010 and 2014 (NYC department of City Planning, n.d.). This increase in population, both currently and in the future, is a worrying trend that continues to pile pressure on not only on housing, but also on the water supply of New York City. Historically, population increase has been a large contributor to changes in the water supply system in New York City. With that respect, it is imperative for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to look for better ways or solutions to deal with the impending water crisis in New York.

There was an increase in the rate of water consumption in New York during the mid-20th century by about 1 per cent every year. As a result, measures to conserve water in the city of New York that were implemented more than 30 years ago led to a decrease in per capita water consumption despite the growth in population (Gorokhovich & Goldsmith, 2009, p. 2). These measures included water use regulations, toilet replacement, leak detection, education, and metering inter alia. Despite the measures however, the management of the New York Citys water supply system continues to experience challenges associated with continuing demand for water as a result of population growth, climate change and global warming, and the continued demand for economic growth in upstate watershed regions (Gorokhovich & Goldsmith, 2009, p. 2). Thus, the main challenges to New York City water supply in the future have to do with the ability to improve the current management of water supply and finding the alternative measures needed to accommodate the constant growth in population; how to manage the changes in hydrological conditions in watershed areas that are arise due to climate change; and how to safeguard the supply of high water natural water for the future generations. Put together, these challenges pose unique hydrological, geological, economical, and political risks in the management of water supply in the future.

New York City receives adequate precipitation for all its residents throughout the year. Rain and snow falling within the New York Citys watershed serve as its main source of water (Department of Environmental Conservation, n.d.). From the watershed, the water flows to the streams nearby before they are collected in reservoirs. Under the New York City Watershed Program, there is a continuous monitoring of all the nineteen reservoirs alongside with their tributaries (Department of Environmental Conservation, n.d.). Needless to say, the Watershed program guarantees an adequate supply of high quality water to all the residents of New York City every day presently. As a matter of fact, this watershed system that supplies unfiltered drinking water to New York City is currently the largest in the United States. The system supplies about 1.2 billion gallons of drinking water that is of high quality to almost half of the entire population of the state of New York, inclusive of all the 8 million residents living in the city of New York (Department of Environmental Conservation, n.d.). The state of New York is wary of possible inadequacies in water supply in the future. As such, there are measures that the state has put in place to preserve and safeguard the water supply sources in New York City. The most recognizable of these measures is the innovative and comprehensive protection plan; an embodiment of the New York Citys watershed agreement. Nonetheless, regardless of the measures put in place, the pressure and the high demand of water arising from the increase in New York Citys population, together with the effects of climate change, are bound to overwhelm the supply of water in the near future.

Population increase has always played a huge role in the dynamism of water supply systems in New York City. To elaborate how this has happened over time, early settlers in Manhattan obtained water for their domestic use from wells that were shallow and privately owned (NYC Department of environmental Protection, n.d.). In the year 1677, the residents of Manhattan dug the first public well at the Bowling Greens old fort. A century later, when the population struck 22,000 by approximation, the residents decided to construct a reservoir in Broadway between white and pearl streets. Pumped water was obtained from wells sunk eastwards, next to the collect ponds, from where the water was distributed via hollow logs (NYC Department of Environmental Protection, n.d.). In the year 1830, the city constructed a fire protection tank at Broadway and 13th street. The wells filled the tank, which distributed water through pipes made of iron. As the New York Citys population increased, the water supply became insufficient, a situation which was worsened by increase in water pollution from the wells secondary to population growth (NYC Department of Environmental Protection, n.d.). As a solution to the water crisis at the time, spring water from upper Manhattan, together with cisterns, became supplements to the main water supply.

Further increases in population led to the exploration of alternatives to increase the water supply. The city ultimately arrived at a decision to construct an aqueduct meant to transport water from the old Croton River to the City (NYC Department of Environmental Protection, n.d.). Having a capacity to supply approximately ninety million gallons of water every day, the aqueduct was rendered operational in the year 1842. Reservoirs for water distribution were located in Central Park and in Manhattan. And as the population increasingly grew, more reservoirs were constructed to increase the supply of water, among them being the 1878s Middle Branch and the 1873s Boyds Corner (NYC Department of Environmental Protection, n.d.). The year 1883 saw the commissioning of the construction of a second aqueduct together with additional water reservoirs. While still under construction, the newly commissioned aqueduct, referred to as the New Aqueduct of Croton, started operating in the year 1890. Since that time, following the creation of Board of Water Supply in 1905, waters from the creeks of Esopus and the tributaries of River Deleware have been impounded thus leading to the creation of more reservoirs and more aqueducts, including the Ashokan reservoir, the Schoharie reservoir, the Neversink reservoir, the Pepacton reservoir, the Cannonsville Reservoirs, the Deleware aqueduct, and the Catskill aqueduct. It is highly likely that without changes in population, the changes in the water supply system would never have been realized.

Other than population growth, climate change also impacts on the future supply of water in New York City, though to a lesser extent. Changes in climate on the Northeastern coast of the United States are becoming more pronounced with time (Gorokhovich & Goldsmith, 2009, p. 1). These changes in climate are a result of high levels of greenhouse emissions, which cause an increase in the average temperatures in winter, increased temperatures on the ocean surface, and generalized instability in annual patterns in weather. These increases affect the quantity of available precipitation which in turn, reduces the amount of water stored in the reservoirs (Gorokhovich & Goldsmith, 2009, p. 1). Managing climate change is therefore another critical approach in ensuring that the residents of New York continue to have a constant supply of high quality water in the future.

Unlike population growth, there are measures that have already been in place to combat climate change in New York City. Since the year 2005, emission of greenhouse gases in New York City have reduced by about 15 per cent even with the rise in economic activity and the population of New York City (Department of Environmental Conservation, 2017, p. 8). Moreover, the greenhouse gas emissions per capita have been significantly lower than the average figures in the entire United States. This reduction in greenhouse gas emissions can be largely attributed to a switch from the use of coal to the use of natural gas, which is a less carbon-intensive source of energy. Plus, New York City has committed to working with other cities to help mitigate the effects of climate change. There are strategies and policies in pace to ensure that the levels of greenhouse emissions are 80 per cent lower by the year 2050 in comparison to the year 2005. These strategies, which are used in the city to achieve this 2050 goal, include accelerating the construction of retrofits to improve the efficiency of energy in the buildings of New York by the year 2050 and the use of more energy efficient means of transportation (Department of Environmental Conservation, 2017, p. 9). Waste management strategies such as closure of landfills have also led to reduction in methane gas emissions.

Despite the stringent measures put in place to curb climate change in the New York City nevertheless, it is important to note that the rising global demand for water significantly outweigh the global warming and climate change in state of systems of water supply by the year 2025 (Vorosmarty et al., 2000, p. 287). In a study conducted by Vorosmarty and colleagues (2001), results showed that impending changes in economic development and population on the global scale before the year 2025 will greatly dictate the rel...