Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program

Consensus

Download PDF

Paperback - $85.50
Ebook - $67.49

New York City's municipal water supply system provides about 1 billion gallons of drinking water a day to over 8.5 million people in New York City and about 1 million people living in nearby Westchester, Putnam, Ulster, and Orange counties. The combined water supply system includes 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes with a total storage capacity of approximately 580 billion gallons. The city's Watershed Protection Program is intended to maintain and enhance the high quality of these surface water sources.

Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program assesses the efficacy and future of New York City's watershed management activities. The report identifies program areas that may require future change or action, including continued efforts to address turbidity and responding to changes in reservoir water quality as a result of climate change.

Publication information

422 pages · 8.5 x 11 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-67967-2
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-67968-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/25851

Suggested citation

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Import this citation to:

Paul K. Barten

Paul K. Barten is a professor in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research centers on the links between land use, streamflow and water quality. The primary motivation for this work is the protection of drinking water supplies and aquatic ecosystems in collaboration with local communities, water utilities, non-governmental organizations and state and federal agencies. Geographic information systems (GIS) and environmental monitoring data are frequently used to identify critical areas for conservation, restoration, and stormwater management. Other studies and long-term service projects focus on continuous improvement of forest conservation and watershed management programs in the northern U.S. and Canada. He is co-author, with Dr. Avril de la Crétaz, of Land Use Effects on Streamflow and Water Quality in the Northeastern United States (2007 CRC Press). Dr. Barten has served on three Academies’ committees, including one as chair. He was a member of the original Academies’ Review of the New York City Watershed Management Strategy. He received an A.A.S. in forestry and land surveying from the New York State Ranger School, a B.S. in forest resources management from the State University of New York at Syracuse, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in forest hydrology and watershed management from the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.

Dorothy J. Merritts

Dorothy J. Merritts is the Harry W. & Mary B. Huffnagle Professor of Geoscience in the Department of Earth and Environment at Franklin and Marshall College. She is president-elect of the American Geophysical Union Earth and Planetary Surface Processes Focus Group. Dr. Merritts’s research interests include the impact of geologic processes, climate change, and human activities on the form and history of the Earth's surface, with particular focus on use of high-resolution topographic data (e.g., lidar, repeat Real-time kinematic global positioning system surveying), radiocarbon dating of sedimentary deposits, and identification of macrofossils (e.g., seeds) in soils and sediments. Her research experience is on erosion, deposition, and river terrace formation in response to changes in land use, climate, and base-level associated with dams and dam removal; on changes in channel geometry, pattern, or gradient in response to dam breaching, uplift, deforestation, and other forcing factors; and on methods and monitoring of wetland and stream restoration. She has served on or chaired five other committees of the National Academies. Dr. Merritts received a B.S. in geology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in engineering geology from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Arizona.

Michael A. Anderson

Michael A. Anderson is a professor of applied limnology and environmental chemistry at the University of California-Riverside (UCR), where he has taught since 1990. His research focuses on the limnology and management of lakes and reservoirs; surface water quality and modeling; fate of contaminants in waters, soils, and sediment; and environmental chemistry. He has been engaged in studies assessing surface water quality, development of management strategies, and assisting in the development of total maximum daily loads for Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake, Big Bear Lake, the Salton Sea and other lakes in California. He has also worked closely with the Metropolitan Water District and other water districts on water quality, including nutrients and pathogens, and implications for treatment and public health. Dr. Anderson recently served as Divisional Dean for Agriculture and Natural Resources at UCR, and previously served as Chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences. He also recently served as a member of the National Water Research Institute Expert Panel on Surface Water Augmentation and Potable Reuse, Independent Advisory Committees for indirect potable reuse projects for the City of San Diego, Padre Dam Municipal Water District and Las Virgenes Water District, the Salton Sea Science Advisory Committee, and the U.S. EPA’s Harmful Algal Blooms Grant Panel. He also served as Associate Editor for Lake and Reservoir Management from 2004-2017. Dr. Anderson received his B.S. in biology from Illinois Benedictine College, his M.S. in environmental studies from Bemidji State University, and his Ph.D. in environmental chemistry from Virginia Tech.

Elizabeth W. Boyer

Elizabeth W. Boyer is an associate professor of water resources in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at the Pennsylvania State University. She serves as Director of the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center, and as Assistant Director of Penn State Institutes of Energy & the Environment. Prior to her current position, Boyer served on the faculty at the State University of New York at Syracuse and at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Boyer’s research explores the status and trends of water quality of streams, rivers, and estuaries in response to factors such as atmospheric deposition, climatic variability, land use, and watershed management. Her watershed scale work focuses on coupled hydrological, biological, and geological processes that affect forests and their associated water resources. Dr. Boyer serves on the Board of Directors of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrological Sciences, Inc., and the Universities Council on Water Resources; serves on several advisory panels of the U.S. EPA; and serves as an editor of the international journal Hydrological Processes. She has chaired the American Geophysical Union's technical committee on Water Quality, and has chaired the international Gordon Research Conference on Catchment Science. She holds a B.S. in geography from the Pennsylvania State University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia.

Zachary M. Easton

Zachary M. Easton is an associate professor in Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The primary focus of Dr. Easton’s work is to improve understanding of hydrologic and terrestrial processes that control biogeochemical cycles and fluxes with the ultimate goal of developing policies and management practices that protect water, soil, and other natural resources. His research addresses both native and managed systems, considers processes at plot to large river basin scales, and is relatively evenly divided among field study/monitoring, modeling, and application of results to real world problems. His ongoing projects focus primarily on the Chesapeake Bay watershed, specifically determining relationships among biogeochemical hotspots, landscape hydrology, the impact that climate change and variability have on these processes, how climate change impacts the phenology of agricultural management and the ensuing effect on water quality. Dr. Easton serves on the EPA Chesapeake Bay Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee. He is also an advisor to the Natural Resources Conservation Service on revisions to the 590 Nutrient Management Standard Phosphorus-Index. He holds a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Stephen A. Estes-Smargiassi

Stephen A. Estes-Smargiassi is director of planning and sustainability at the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA). Throughout his career, he has focused on gathering and managing multi-disciplinary teams to manage, design and communicate complex environmental projects to the public. He coordinated protection planning studies for the 400 square mile Quabbin, Ware River, and Wachusett reservoir watersheds, as well as about 40 other smaller supply systems in the Boston metropolitan area. He was the technical lead in developing the materials to supporting MWRA’s decision to remain an unfiltered system – the second largest in the US - as well as successfully defending that decision in Federal court. Protection plans for local sources (of partially supplied customer communities and adjacent non-customers) resulted in no additional local supplies being lost to contamination, a key part of MWRA’s long term demand management planning. Mr. Estes-Smargiassi is responsible for producing and distributing MWRA’s annual water quality report to over 800,000 households, as well as monthly public reports, and using those opportunities to reinforce the bridges built over the past decade to the public health community. He coordinated drinking water quality and health outcome research to understand and evaluate MWRA’s completed switch to ozone disinfection, and continues to evaluate key public health, water quality and treatment research. More recently, he has overseen efforts to understand the impacts of climate change on the watershed and reservoir system. Mr. Estes-Smargiassi received his B.S. in civil engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University.

Robert M. Hirsch

Robert M. Hirsch is a research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). As a research hydrologist, the focus of his research is on the description and understanding of long-term variability and change in surface-water quality and streamflow. From 1994 through May 2008, he served as the Chief Hydrologist of the USGS. In this capacity, Dr. Hirsch was responsible for all USGS water science programs, which encompass research and monitoring of the nation’s groundwater and surface water resources including issues of water quantity as well as quality. Dr. Hirsch has received numerous honors from the federal government and from non-governmental organizations, including the 2006 American Water Resources Association’s William C. Ackermann Medal for Excellence in Water Management, selected to be the Walter Langbein Lecturer of the American Geophysical Union in 2017, and has twice been conferred the rank of Meritorious Senior Executive by the U.S. President. He is co-author of the textbook Statistical Methods in Water Resources. Dr. Hirsch has served on two Academies committees, including the Committee to Review the NYC DEP Operations Support Tool. Dr. Hirsch received a B.A. in geology from Earlham College, an M.S. in geology from University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.

Desmond F. Lawler

Desmond F. Lawler is the Nasser I. Al-Rashid Chair in Civil Engineering and a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. He has been on the faculty at UT since 1980, teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental engineering, particularly on water and wastewater treatment. His research focuses on physical and chemical treatment processes for water and wastewater. Throughout his career, he has studied particle removal processes and more recently has been studying desalination, storm water treatment, processes for the removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products, and the removal of inorganic contaminants from both drinking water and wastewater. His contributions to research and education have been recognized with major awards by the American Water Works Association (A.P. Black award, 1999); Water Environment Federation (Gordon Fair Distinguished Engineering Educator Award, 2009); American Membrane Technology Association (Water Quality Person of the Year, 2010); and the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors ("Distinguished Lecturer" for 2012-13; Charles R. O'Melia Distinguished Educator Award, 2012; and Outstanding Contribution to Environmental Engineering Education, 2015). Dr. Lawler co-authored a textbook on "Water Quality Engineering: Physical-Chemical Treatment Processes,” published by Wiley in 2013. He received his B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Menu B. Leddy

Menu B. Leddy is a principal scientist who has designed, managed, and directed the molecular biology laboratory at the Research and Development Department of the Orange County Water District (OCWD). Ms. Leddy has over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing rapid methods for the detection and identification of microorganisms, including pathogens, in microbial communities associated with drinking water, surface water, groundwater, wastewater and treatment wetlands. Her professional expertise is in microbial water quality, fate and transport of pathogens, and treatment technologies for compliance and mitigation of contaminants in surface and drinking water, wastewater, and for water reuse. She is involved with the California State Water Board regarding water regulations and water quality policies. Ms. Leddy is also the lead scientist on several multidisciplinary funded research projects, including one profiling microbial communities of unit processes for advanced treated wastewater by Next Generation Sequencing, another on the association of pathogens and indicator organisms in urban runoff, and a third on monitoring of viruses in wastewater treatment plants. She has authored and co-authored research papers in areas that include bioremediation, bacterial regrowth, bacterial nutrients and measurement, advanced techniques and biological treatment, microbial recovery and identification, constructed wetlands, community analysis and high throughput sequencing. She has a BS in biology from Stony Brook University, New York and an MSc. in microbiology/molecular biology from California State University, Long Beach.

Jay R. Lund

Jay R. Lund (NAE) is the director of the Center for Watershed Sciences and Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis. His research and teaching focus on applications of systems analysis, economic, and management methods to infrastructure and public works problems. His recent work is primarily on water and environmental problems, but he has done substantial work in solid and hazardous waste management, dredging and coastal zone management, and urban, regional, and transportation planning. While most of this work involves the application of economics, optimization, and simulation modeling, his interests also include more qualitative policy, planning, and management studies. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for analysis of water and environmental policy issues leading to integrated water resources planning and management. He served on the Committee on Further Studies of Endangered and Threatened Fishes in the Klamath River. Dr. Lund has a B.A. in regional planning and international relations from the University of Delaware. He also has a B.S. in civil engineering, an M.A. in geography, and a Ph.D. in civil engineering, all from the University of Washington.

Anita Milman

Anita Milman is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Conservation in the School of Earth and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Dr. Milman’s research examines the multi-level governance of water resources, with a focus on human responses to hydro-climatic and other sources of environmental change. Her current projects include examination of the interactions between science and policy in transboundary river basins; policy development for sustainable groundwater planning and management; regulatory and non-regulatory design for the implementation of structural and non-structural approaches to flood and fluvial erosion hazard mitigation; and the influence of regulation on innovation in the wastewater sector. Her research integrates across multiple disciplines, drawing on her interdisciplinary training in hydrology, political science, and geography. Prior to joining UMass, Milman was a Senior Research Associate with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom. Dr. Milman is a deputy associate editor for the journal Climatic Change and a research fellow with the Earth Systems Governance Project. She also served on the editorial board of the journal Environmental Research Letters from 2016-2018. Dr. Milman received her B.S. and M.Eng in civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

Catherine A. O'Connor

Catherine A. O’Connor is the Director of Engineering for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (District). In this role, she contributes to the Engineering Department’s responsibility for planning, design and construction of projects prioritized in the Capital Improvement Program and projects in the Stormwater Management Program (together these programs are $800 million). The department also administers the county-wide Watershed Management Ordinance and regulates the construction and maintenance of local sewers which are tributary to the District’s intercepting sewers. Dr. O’Connor is actively involved in the efforts to manage stormwater in a manner that provides multiple benefits to local communities and in efforts to transform District operations from waste treatment to resource recovery operations, particularly with water reuse, phosphorus recovery, and methane utilization projects. She is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Illinois. Dr. O’Connor received her B.S. in industrial engineering from the State University of New York Buffalo, an M.S. and Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Soni M. Pradhanang

Soni M. Pradhanang is an assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Rhode Island. She conducts research on the development of decision support systems for management of water resources from the field to the watershed and regional scale. The generation, transformation and transport of sediments and nutrients within watersheds in the context of land use and climate change are the major foci of her current research. This combines monitoring and modeling to understand water and nutrients movement in complex terrain, soils, with different land use, and with various watershed protection practices. Dr. Pradhanang’s work also evaluates the reliability, predictability and vulnerabilities of the water infrastructure such as reservoirs, dams and spillways in maintaining safe drinking water. Her Ph.D. and post-doctoral research focused on developing watershed models to assess effectiveness of agricultural and forestry best management practices in Syracuse, New York and studies of the impacts of climate change on the New York City watershed region. In addition to research in New York and Rhode Island, she conducts international research on climate change vulnerability assessment for water resources in South Asia. She received her B.Sc. in biology and chemistry from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, her M.Sc. in environmental science from Bangalore University, India, her M.ESc. in environmental science from Yale University, and her Ph.D. in ecosystem science and application with the area of concentration in hydrology and modeling from the State University of New York at Syracuse.

Kenneth H. Reckhow

Kenneth H. Reckhow is professor emeritus of water resources in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. Dr. Reckhow’s research interests concern the development, application, and evaluation of surface water quality models for prediction to inform decision making under uncertainty. His recent work has addressed such diverse problems as estuarine eutrophication modeling, development of decision analytic strategies for nutrient criteria, modeling the impact of bacterial contamination of shellfish beds, combining remotely-sensed data to improve eutrophication model forecasts, assessing the impact of urbanization on stream ecosystems, and modeling transport and fate of estrogens from combined animal feedlot operations. Much of his work makes use of Bayesian statistical analysis to combine information from disparate sources. His recent modeling projects involve Bayesian networks to capture complex linkages among variables and to express uncertainties in probabilistic terms. He has been a member or chair of four past Academies committees. Dr. Reckhow received his B.S. in engineering physics from Cornell University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in environmental science and engineering from Harvard University.

John S. Schwartz

John S. Schwartz is the associate department head of undergraduate studies and professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dr. Schwartz has over 30 years of experience in academics and professional engineering practice. His research interests include watershed hydrology and sediment modeling, river mechanics, ecological engineering, ecohydraulics, stream restoration, and water quality. Prior to joining the University of Tennessee in August 2003, he was a private consultant in the State of Oregon as a licensed engineer––primarily engaged with municipal planning and design of water, wastewater, and stormwater systems––and he worked for the U.S. EPA (on permit compliance) and the U.S. Peace Corps (Kenya Ministry of Water Development). Dr. Schwartz is an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Environmental and Water Resources Institute serving on the Urban Water Resources Research Council and River Restoration and Sedimentation committees. Dr. Schwartz has a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Missouri at Columbia, an M.S. in fisheries science (water resources) from Oregon State University, and a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Christine E. Stauber

Christine E. Stauber is an associate professor in the Division of Environmental Health in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. Dr. Stauber’s work aims to use epidemiology and environmental health to understand the relationship between drinking water quality and health. She has over 15 years of experience in environmental health sciences, focusing on the pivotal role of exposure to microbiologically contaminated drinking water and the associated health impact on children. More recently, she has engaged in research on urban health with an emphasis on understanding distinct environmental exposures in cities. In collaboration with various colleagues and stakeholders, she has examined the role of various environmental stressors in the Proctor Creek Watershed in the city of Atlanta. Dr. Stauber teaches graduate and undergraduate level courses including courses on the role of the environment in public health, and global and local water issues. Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the World Health Organization. Dr. Stauber received her B.S. and M.S. in soil, water and environmental sciences from the University of Arizona, and her Ph.D. in environmental sciences from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Richard C. Stedman

Richard C. Stedman is a professor and associate department chair in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University and serves as the Director of the Department’s Human Dimensions Research Unit. His research focuses on the interaction between social and ecological systems. He uses the theories and methodologies of sociology as a lens for examining a broad array of human/environment conflicts with particular interest in the challenges that rapid social and ecological changes pose for the sustainability of forested ecosystems, watersheds, and human communities. Dr. Stedman has published more than 100 articles in sociology across a diverse range of topics, including management of invasive aquatic pests and wildlife and fisheries management. His current research activity examines the sustainability of resource-dependent communities as they transition to natural resource-based tourism development, the causes and consequences of land-use change along a gradient from very rural to very urban systems, and natural resource-based decision making among private (agricultural and forest) landowners. His research has focused on issues affecting New York State communities, including those grappling with the potential social, environmental, and economic impacts of natural gas development. He was a member of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Marcellus Shale Team that earned the 2011 Cornell University David J. Allee and Paul R. Eberts Community and Economic Vitality Award. Dr. Stedman received his B.A. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his M.S. in natural resources from Cornell University, and his Ph.D. in sociology and rural sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Webinar

Public Briefing: Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program

August 10, 2020

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

Since the late 1990s, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has implemented a comprehensive Watershed Protection Program to protect the upstate watershed that supplies about 1 billion gallons of drinking water a day to over 9 million people in New York City and surrounding suburbs. The overall program includes numerous individual programs that target potential sources of contamination to the water supply, including agriculture, stormwater, wastewater, and land use changes. In late 2018, a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine commenced a review of the Watershed Protection Program, with the goal of determining whether the current suite of individual programs is appropriate and adequate to comply with the Surface Water Treatment Rule into the future.

Please join us on August 10th at 2 pm (EDT) for the release of the report: Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program. The webinar will feature committee chair Dr. Paul Barten and several committee members. They will present a briefing of the report, followed by an online question and answer session. Registration is free but required. The report will be available for free download at the same time at www.nap.edu.

This briefing is being held completely online. No in-person attendance is available for this event. Please register to receive the connection details.

Additional Information

Is it a Closed Session event?

Not Closed

Contact

Elleni Giorgis

(202) 334-2731
egiorgis@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Log In

Sign in to access your saved publications, downloads, and email preferences.

Former MyNAP users: You'll need to reset your password on your first login to MyAcademies. Click "Forgot password" below to receive a reset link via email. Having trouble? Visit our FAQ page to contact support.

Members of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, or National Academy of Medicine should log in through their respective Academy portals.

Email (required)
Password (required)

Don't have an account?

Register

Email (required)
New password (required)
Retype password (required) Password must be at least 8 characters
I accept the terms of use
terms of use

Thank You

Thank you for creating a MyAcademies account!

Enjoy free access to thousands of National Academies' publications, a 10% discount off every purchase, and build your personal library.

Forgot Password

Enter the email address for your MyAcademies (formerly MyNAP) account to receive password reset instructions.

Reset Requested

We sent password reset instructions to your email . Follow the link in that email to create a new password. Didn't receive it? Check your spam folder or contact us for assistance.

Reset Password

New password (required)
Retype password (required) Password must be at least 8 characters

Reset Password

Your password has been reset.

Log In

Verify email

Verify Your Email Address

We sent a verification link to your email. Please check your inbox (and spam folder) and follow the link to verify your email address. If you did not receive the email, you can request a new verification link below

Subscribe

First Name
Last Name
Email (required)
I agree to receive emails from the National Academies (required)

We respect your privacy and will never share your information.

Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program

Featured publication

Description

Collaborators

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Health Care Financing to Improve Availability of Affordable Contraception: Identifying Promising Practices

Review of Methods in the Report on Carcinogens Handbook

Transportation Research Board Executive Office

Transit Cooperative Research Program

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Extreme Weather Events and Insurance Webinar Series

Earth Systems and Resources Program Area

Leveraging AI for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring and Accountability Webinar Series

Publication information

Suggested citation

About

Additional Information

Contact

Elleni Giorgis

Disclaimer

My Academies

Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program

Dropdown items

Featured publication