New York City Water Tunnels Can’t Be Shut Down for Maintenance

In an interview about her new book, The Works: Anatomy of a City, author Kate Ascher tells an interesting story about how the two existing tunnels that bring water to New York city are leaking. These tunnels cannot be shut down for inspection or repair because the city is so dependent on them.

If you live in the Big Apple, don't worry, a third tunnel is under construction. Expected completion is in 2020.

So much for trusting your city infrastructure.

Here is a snip of the article (emphasis added):

Kate Ascher: The two main water tunnels serving the city lose many thousands or millions of gallons of water that just pour out of them each day because they are leaking. But they can't really attack those leaks, and do the maintenance work that is required, until there is a backup system.

I'm not an expert on this, but as I understand it the tunnels essentially can't be maintained, can't be checked, because we're so dependent on them. Nobody wants to shut off the water moving through the tunnels because we're reliant on them, but also in part because they're afraid the tunnels may implode when that pressure is removed.

So the idea is to have this third water tunnel, start using it, and then be able to take those other tunnels out of service to be maintained in turn.

You can read the full article at the link below, lots of other fascinating stuff about NYC infrastructure.

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/fea/20060213/202/1755