On July 15, 1890, the first gallons of water were released through the New Croton Aqueduct. Built to replace the circa 1837 Old Croton Aqueduct, the 33-mile-long brick-lined tunnel—which extended from the New Croton Reservoir to the Jerome Park Reservoir in the Bronx—supplied New York City with up to 340 million gallons of water a day.
Construction of the New Croton aqueduct commenced in 1885, with the goal of accommodating New York City’s increasing population. To provide stability and protection, engineers built it much deeper—a depth of 150 feet. Additional supply reservoirs were constructed along the Croton River to keep the aqueduct flowing year-round. Productivity was also boosted with the creation of a seven-mile tunnel drilled across the Harlem River.
At the time of the Old Croton Aqueduct’s construction, New York City was battling several public health crises including cholera, yellow fever, and an alarming number of residential fires in overcrowded tenement buildings. The supply of fresh water from the Croton Dam helped to combat these issues by making it easier to fight fires and eliminating the problem of residents drinking from contaminated wells. When the city underwent a major population boom at the turn of the 19th century, the New Croton Aqueduct satisfied Manhattan’s increased water needs.
New York City temporarily stopped getting their water from Croton in the late 1990s, when the growing population caused the water quality to diminish, but the Aqueduct was rehabilitated with the addition of a filtration plant in 2015. It remains in use today.
