| Rondout Reservoir | |
|---|---|
 Spillway at eastern end | |
  Rondout Reservoir Location within New York Show map of New York Adirondack Park Rondout Reservoir Rondout Reservoir (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Location | Catskill Mountains,Ulster /Sullivan counties,New York |
| Coordinates | 41°49′21.36″N74°28′15.6″W / 41.8226000°N 74.471000°W /41.8226000; -74.471000 |
| Type | reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Rondout Creek |
| Primary outflows | Delaware Aqueduct |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 6.5 mi (10.5 km) |
| Surface area | 2,052 acres (830 ha) |
| Average depth | 73.8 ft (22.5 m) |
| Water volume | 49.6 billion U.S. gallons (188 million cubic meters) |
| Surface elevation | 837 ft (255 m)[1] |
Rondout Reservoir is areservoir inNew York City's water supply network. It is located 75 miles (121 km) northwest of the city in theCatskill Mountains, near the southern end ofCatskill Park, split between thetowns ofWawarsing inUlster County andNeversink inSullivan County. It is the central collection point for the city's Delaware System, which provides half its daily consumption.
The reservoir was made possible by the construction ofMerriman Dam alongRondout Creek. Construction began in 1937 and ended in 1954, three years after the reservoir began delivering water. It would be the first of four built by the city to satisfy its growing demand in the years afterWorld War II. Three villages – Lackawack, Montela and Eureka – werecondemned and flooded in the process. The small settlement ofGrahamsville remains in existence just west of the reservoir.
In 1998, the city's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued an advisory[2] warning against eating more than one reservoir-caughtsmallmouth bass per month aftermercury levels of 1.3part per million (ppm), slightly above the federal standard of 1.0 ppm, were confirmed in three caught in the reservoir. Since there is no industry in the reservoir's vast watershed, this contamination is believed to be the result ofacid rain fromcoal-firedpower plants in theMidwest.[citation needed]
In 2006, after residents raised concerns regarding the soundness of both Merriman and Neversink dams following emergency repairs toSchoharie Dam, a local newspaper, theTimes Herald-Record, obtained copies of weekly visualinspection reports for both and found that thehandwriting and information relating to the appearance of the dams on weekly reports compiled by inspector Ronald Hewlett and initialed by section engineer Russell Betters over a three-year period were virtually identical, suggesting they had been routinelyphotocopied.[3] The two were later suspended.[4]
Rondout Reservoir is a single basin 6.5 miles (10.5 km) long,[5] 2,052 acres (8.30 km2) in area and reaches a maximum depth of 175 feet (53 m) near the dam. Mean depth is 73.8 feet (22.5 m). Elevation is 840 feet (260 m) above sea level.
It holds 49.6 billion US gallons (188,000,000 m3),[5] which comes not only from the reservoir's own 95 square-mile (247 km2)[5]watershed but fromCannonsville,Neversink, andPepacton reservoirs via theDelaware andNeversink tunnels as well. Since those three are in theDelaware River watershed, Rondout is considered by the city's Department of Environmental Protection to be part of the Delaware system despite being firmly within theHudson River watershed itself.
Combined, the four reservoirs account for 1,012 square miles (2,620 km2) of watershed and 320.4 billion US gallons (1.213×109 m3) of capacity, 890 million US gallons (3,400,000 m3) of which goes to the city daily — 50% of the entire system's capacity. All this water is fed from the Rondout toWest Branch Reservoir inPutnam County via theDelaware Aqueduct, the world's longest continuous tunnel at 85 miles (137 km).
Rondout is easy to reach via road as routes55 and55A form a loop around it. However, access to the actual reservoir is tightly restricted and has been even more so since theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks forced an increase in security.
Fishing is permitted in season with a DEP-issued permit in addition to the appropriate New York state license, and the reservoir is known, as are most Catskill fishing areas, for itstrout. Howeverboats are not allowed to leave the reservoir for environmental reasons and must be stored near it year round.Hunters with valid city and state permits may also use the lands around the reservoir where hunting is permitted during the season. Beyond those, however, no recreational use of the reservoir is permitted. While the land is not fenced off, the area is regularly patrolled by uniformedDEP police.
