John Schwartz in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering was nominated and is now serving on a committee with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to comprehensively evaluate the Watershed Protection Plan for New York City’s drinking water supply. Eighteen experts from around the US are serving on this 21-month long assignment.
“The New York City’s water supply serves over 10 million people where its system of reservoirs, tunnels, monitoring controls and system management is the most sophisticated I have toured,” said Schwartz.
The first two meetings in the Catskills Mountain region were held in September and October. Prior to the October meeting, the committee was given a tour in the region by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, which included a visit to their NELAP accredited water quality laboratory in Kingston, the Boiceville wastewater treatment plant, the Stoney Clove stream restoration project near Phoenicia (pictured above), the DiBenedetto farm operations and pollution controls, and a land acquisition site.