New York – Bypass Planned for Tunnel Leaking Millions of Gallons of Water in Mid-Hudson

New York – New York City plans to build a three-mile long tunnel to divert water from a leaking aqueduct that brings in half of the city’s drinking water from upstate reservoirs, officials announced Friday.

The plan calls for the bypass tunnel, at depths of 600 to 800 feet, to run east from Newburgh in Orange County, under the Hudson River to the Town of Wappinger in Dutchess County. The leaking portion of the aqueduct will then be sealed.

“The Delaware Aqueduct is a primary water artery to the City, and fixing the leaks that have appeared since it went online more than 65 years ago is critical to supplying nine million New Yorkers with the high quality drinking water they need every day, city environmental Commissioner Cas Holloway said in a statement.

Up to 35 million gallons of water a day has been escaping through cracks in the 85-mile-long aqueduct. The leaks were first discovered in 1988 and have caused chronic flooding in Wawarsing, about 100 miles north of New York City.

Construction of the tunnel is to begin in 2013 and be completed by 2019 for a cost of about $1.2 billion. An additional $900 million will be spent on projects to supplement the city’s water supply during part of the construction period, officials said.

David Bragdon, director of the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, said in a statement that the aqueduct repair is a critical step toward meeting the city’s goal of developing backup systems for the water network.

The repair and project is expected to create between 1,000 and 1,500 jobs, Holloway said.