New York City has the largest unfiltered water supply system in the world,  and it has the largest combined sewer – stormwater system in the nation.

Privatization and the history of NYC’s Water System. Today, New York City has a publicly owned and operated water system, but this wasn’t always the case. In the 1800s, the city needed to rebuild its water utility, which was destroyed during the Revolutionary War. Doubting it could not raise sufficient funds itself, the city privatized the endeavor and gave the Manhattan Com-pany exclusive rights to provide drinking water. The city soon learned this was a terrible idea. The company undercut costs, spent very little money on the water system and used the resulting surplus funds to start a bank, known today as Chase Manhattan Bank. Waterborne diseases ravaged the city. After an outbreak of cholera killed 3,500 people, New York City condemned the land and took public control over its drinking water.

Aging Water Systems. The city’s drinking water and wastewater systems are old. After nearly a century of wear and tear, many pipelines are crumbing and water is flooding city streets.

•    Pipelines are leaking water. 36 million gallons of water a day leak from the 85-mile-long, 70-year-old Delaware Aqueduct – the longest continuous tunnel in the world – as it carries water from an upstate reservoir to the city 

•    The sewer system is spilling wastewater. A mere tenth of an inch of rainfall can cause the sewer system to overflow. More than 27 billion gallons of raw sewage and polluted stormwater overflow every year; that’s more than 530 million gallons a week. Because the system couldn’t handle the wastewater and stormwater, a severe storm crippled the subway system in August 2007.

•    Pollution, including wastewater, contaminates the area’s rivers, harbors and bays.
EPA’s most recent assessment of the Hackensack-Passaic, Lower Hudson, and Northern Long Island watersheds found 337 individual impairments to water quality, including fe-cal coliform bacteria, other pathogens and solid trash. Mayor Bloomberg predicted it would be 2030, 22 years from now, before most rivers, harbors and bays would be safe for recreation.

High Infrastructure Costs. The city’s aging systems need expensive repairs and upgrades.

•    $23.3 billion for water and sewer infrastructure improvements from 2008 to 2017
-    $5.8 billion to upgrade water pollution control plants
-    $3.0 billion to protect upstate watersheds
-    $1.6 billion to build a filtration plant for one of its three systems
-    $1.5 billion to reduce sewage overflows

•    $6 billion tunnel project is underway to transport water from upstate reservoirs to the city
-    The largest capital construction project in NYC history
-    Began in 1970 and expected completion in 2020

Water and Sewer Rate Hikes. As improvement costs mount, and as federal assistance washes away, New Yorkers are seeing their water and sewer rates climb.

•    Water and sewer rates increased 14.5 percent on July 1, 2008
-    The average annual bill of a single-family home increased from $700 to $800
-    The average annual bill for a unit in an apartment building or condo increased from $594 to $680

Bottled Water is More Expensive. Even after the rate hikes, tap water is still far more afford-able than bottled water.

•    Drinking two liters of NYC water a day costs just $0.50 a year, whereas drinking two liters of bottled water a day costs more than $1,400 a year

Drinking Water Quality. Although NYC’s water quality meets all health-related state and federal drinking water standards,  certain communities are exposed to potentially dangerous levels of contaminants.

•    For the last five years, tetrachloroethylene, an industrial solvent primarily used in dry cleaning, has sporadically contaminated the water of 100,000 residents in a five-and-a-half-mile section of southeastern Queens – specifically in Cambria Heights, Hollis and St. Albans,  where more than 90 percent of the residents are black or African American. 

•    According to the Environmental Protection Agency, people who drink water with tetrachloroethylene over several years are at an increased risk of developing liver problems and possibly cancer.