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Hold the salt: Salinity spikes in key NYC drinking water supply
By
Liam Quigley
Published Mar 21, 2025
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Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
By
Liam Quigley
Published Mar 21, 2025
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The amount of salt in one of New York City’s key sources of drinking water has tripled over three decades and is on track to exceed allowable levels around the turn of the next century, environmental officials said Friday.
The city’s Department of Environmental Protection found that chloride levels in the Croton system of reservoirs in Westchester and Putnam counties steadily increased between 1987 and 2019. That system provides 10% of the city’s water supply. Officials attributed the spike in salinity to road salt, discharge from wastewater treatment plants and home water softener systems.
“Our study found a clear and troubling trend of increasing salinity in and around the Croton water supply region,” Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala said. “As the nation’s largest municipal water supply system serving half of the state’s population with the gold standard in water quality, we must do everything possible to protect this most precious resource.”
The sanitation department has begun using more brine as a deicer on city streets instead of road salt.
Liam Quigley
New York City has long boasted of having the best drinking water of any city thanks to its sprawling network of upstate reservoirs. But the new report amounts to a reality check. In addition to rising salinity in the Croton system, salinity levels are also increasing — at a slower rate – in the city’s main reservoirs in the Catskills.
Individual reservoirs within the Croton system are seeing even sharper increases in salinity. The Amawalk Reservoir an hour-and-a-half drive from the city could exceed the maximum allowable salt levels in just the next 30 years, state Sen. Peter Harckham said in a press release.
The environmental agency recommended reducing the use of road salt in favor of a salt brine solution that is less harmful to the environment. The report also suggested upgrading wastewater treatment plants to cut down on the amount of chloride flowing into reservoirs.
The New York City sanitation department has increasingly relied on brine to pretreat roads ahead of snowfall in the five boroughs. Salty water also makes pipes break down more quickly, meaning that the higher salinity increases risk of lead flowing from city faucets.
Last year, the city had planned to tap into the Croton watershed more than normal to allow for $2 billion in repairs to the 85-mile-long Delaware Aqueduct near Newburgh. That line has a leak causing the loss of 35 million gallons of water a day.
But those repairs were paused last summer due to a severe drought that reduced water levels throughout the reservoir system. The city has said it plans to proceed with those repairs later this year.
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new york city
Health and Science
Liam Quigley
Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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