Thursday, May 7, 2015

watershed


 There are forests, rolling hills, small craggy mountains, barns and farmhouses galore,
but for me the centerpiece of our place in the country is the water. 
The waterfall and stream that are part of the watershed

From the top of those hills and mountains snowmelt runs into streams and,
 supplemented by rainfall travels on downhill, 
making its way into the Pepacton Reservoir. 

From there it funnels via aqueduct to New York City,
 in a surprisingly low-tech way. Gravity.

The Catskill/Delaware County Watershed provides 90% of New York City's water.





 This means there are lots of restriction on land use, 
and that the waters and surrounding lands will remain pristine and undeveloped. 

This very morning the water that streamed past as I hunted for wildflowers last weekend
could be pouring, unfiltered from the faucets of my sons who live in New York City.




18 comments:

  1. Ahh, water! You're so fortunate to have a waterfall of your very own! Beautiful place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's something mesmerizing about moving water, Anne.

      Delete
  2. How interesting! That kind of stuff fascinates me and yeah! to land remaining undeveloped. There's not much of that anymore. It's lovely to think that it's a connection between you and your boys. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is interesting! Something I think would be very high-tech is so simple.

      Delete
  3. Hello Jen, I don't need to tell you how much I envy you your stream and waterfall, but somehow this post reminded me of the old Tom Lehrer lyric: "The breakfast garbage you throw into the Bay, They drink for lunch at San Jose." Perhaps you could consider water filters for their next birthday presents.
    --Jim
    P.S. The water here in Taipei is great (it comes from a beautiful mountain reservoir), but there is such universal distrust of the piping system that everyone drinks filtered or bottled water.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting! The NY water is treated but not filtered. I don't know the details of what they means though. One of my sons does use a pitcher that has a filter in it.

      Delete
  4. Hello Jen,
    I loved this post and the story of how water reached New York City. We take water so much for granted.

    Have a great weekend
    Helen xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We do take it for granted, as the terrible droughts in some places are making clear. I know so little about these things that just magically appear in my life--water, electricity, gas…I need to understand them more!

      Delete
  5. My husband has always said that there is no more deicious water than New York City's, now I know why.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is delicious! When we moved from NC to NJ I noticed a big difference.

      Delete
  6. Do you know what percentage of New York's water comes the Catskill/Delaware watershed? Although I knew you wouldn't begrudge your children that water, it seems selfish that NYC would get most of it, when it has a big Hudson River nearby, which the map shows as a contributor, also. Unlike you, Jen, I don't see New York City as the center of the country (remember that cartoon map showing America with NYC taking up most of it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 90% Karen. Something like 1 billion gallons a day, which I can't begin to wrap my mind around! That was a great cartoon. Seriously the water mostly rolls down hill--too bad we can't get some water to California that way.

      Delete
  7. Beautiful shot. Water is a luxury and a worry here. It flows freely but we pay highly for the privilege.

    And they raise the price per 1000 gallons every spring.

    Ours comes from a reservoir in DC which at present is being heavily treated with chlorine:-((

    Your waterfall is an inspiration. If I could paint, I's paint that.

    xo J

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are some terrifying droughts going on. I recently read that it takes 72 gallons to grow a pound of avocados, and 9 to grow a pound on tomatoes. I think the price of avocados will be skyrocketing.

      I collected a bunch of vintage paintings of waterfalls, and a friend who is a talented landscape artist has painted ours, but it's ver hard to capture that rush of moving water. I'm afraid to try. I think it would have to be a craze energetic abstract.

      Delete
  8. We are both lucky to have enough fresh water on our doorstep!

    Happy weekend!

    Madelief x

    ReplyDelete
  9. nice, and I really hope it remains untouched and unspoiled like that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It will, as long as NYC needs water. :-)

      Delete