Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Could Cow Manure Save The City's Water Supply?
By
Ben Muessig
Published Dec 13, 2009
Modified Dec 13, 2009
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Muessig
Published Dec 13, 2009
Modified Dec 13, 2009
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Environmentalists say they've come up with an unlikely way to keep the city's tap water from becoming polluted: cow manure. Amidst mounting concerns about the impact of upstate natural gas drilling on New York City's water supply, the blog CleanTechnica reports on the burgeoning cow-power movement.
Environmentalists are hoping to quell some of the demand for natural gas drilling — which they fear could contaminate aquifers and reservoirs with dangerous chemicals — by using dairy cow dung to produce a sustainable methane gas that could provide power to upstate homes. Supporters of the plan, which is modeled after a similar cow-power plan in Vermont, want to install airtight containers across upstate farms in hopes of converting up to 40 percent of the state's cow manure into methane biogas by 2020, potentially lessening the need for upstate natural gas drilling. They also hope to develop a technology that will convert the methane biogas into a diesel-grade fuel that can power cars.
Tagged
biogas
cows
dairy cows
drilling
energy
fuel
gas
gas drilling
methane
natural gas
tap water
upstate
water supply
watershed
Ben Muessig
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .