New York City
When New York City was faced with serious water quality issues, they opted for a cost-effective win-win solution that benefited NYC tax payers and rural landowners alike. Instead of spending $10B on water filtration plant that would cost $1M per day to operated, the city invested $30M to conserve land in their watershed. This simple concept saved tax-payers billions and stimulated the rural economies in the NYC watershed. The $30M investment conserved over 23,000 acres of land. The land conserved through this program is a mix of public and private land that will remain open space land forever.
The Need
- NYC’s 9M people use over 1B gallons of drinking water per day
- 90% of NYC drinking water comes from the Catskills Delaware watershed
- 10% from Croton watershed (both are considered “surface water”)
The Problem
- Federal laws required NYC to find a way to control non-point source pollution at the source
- NYC officials thought filtration was the only way
- Projected project costs were $10B to build and $1M per day to operate
The Solution
- NYC invested $30M to secure landowner conservation agreements inside the watershed
- 23,000+ plus acres have been conserved
- Rural economies have been stimulated
- The health of the watershed has improved greatly.