Hudson Valley

Hudson Valley of New York State

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Hudson Valley Reservoirs

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Access Permit

The Access Permit that allows for fishing and hiking on certain designated areas in the watershed. Access Permit holders may also obtain a DEP Hunting Tag for deer hunting and a DEP Boat Tag for keeping a rowboat at one of the reservoirs for fishing.

Boating for the purposes of fishing is allowed on NYC reservoirs to those with the appropriate DEP permits.

Ashokan Reservoir: (845) 657-2663

Schoharie Reservoir: (607) 588-6231

Rondout and Neversink Reservoirs: (845) 985-0386

Cannonsville and Pepacton Reservoirs: (607) 363-7009

East of Hudson Reservoirs: (914) 232-1309

Reservoirs

systems The water supply for the City of New York is composed of three systems. Together, these systems provide water for 8 million residents in New York City, as well as 1 million residents north of the city.

The Catskill and Delaware systems (Schoharie, Cannonsville, Pepacton, Ashokan, Neversink, and Rondout Reservoirs) lie west of the Hudson River, covering an area of approximately 5200 square kilometers (2000 square miles).

The Kensico and West Branch Reservoirs of the Catskill/Delaware systems (plus the independent Croton system) lie east of the Hudson River.

Map from the city of NY - DEP

After exploring alternatives for increasing supply, the City decided to impound water from the Croton River, in what is now Westchester County, and to build an aqueduct to carry water from the Old Croton Reservoir to the City. This aqueduct, known today as the Old Croton Aqueduct, had a capacity of about 90 million gallons per day (mgd) and was placed in service in 1842.

Croton Reservoir

Croton water system
Map from the city of NY - DEP

In 1905 the Board of Water Supply was created by the State Legislature. After careful study, the City decided to develop the Catskill region as an additional water source.

The Board of Water Supply proceeded to plan and construct facilities to impound the waters of the Esopus Creek, one of the four watersheds in the Catskills, and to deliver the water throughout the City.

This project, to develop what is known as the Catskill System, included the Ashokan Reservoir and Catskill Aqueduct and was completed in 1915.

It was subsequently turned over to the City's Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity for operation and maintenance.

The remaining development of the Catskill System, involving the construction of the Schoharie Reservoir and Shandaken Tunnel, was completed in 1928.

Catskill Reservoir

Construction of the Delaware System was begun in March 1937. The Delaware System was placed in service in stages: The Delaware Aqueduct was completed in 1944, Neversink Reservoir in 1950, Rondout Reservoir in 1951, Pepacton Reservoir in 1954 and Cannonsville Reservoir in 1967.

watershed
Map from the city of NY - DEP

Water from the Pepacton, Neversink and Cannonsville Reservoirs is sent to the Rondout Reservoir by gravity via the 25-mile-long East Delaware Tunnel, the 44-mile West Delaware Tunnel and the Neversink Tunnel, which is six miles long.

The combined waters are then sent to the city in the world’s longest continuous underground tunnel, the Delaware Aqueduct, which extends 85 miles from the Rondout Reservoir to Hillview Reservoir in Yonkers.

The aqueduct, 1,550 feet below ground at one point, runs 600 feet beneath the Hudson River at Chelsea.

Impetus for the Upper Delaware River Watershed Study, authorized by Congress in May 1996, was the severe floods that struck the region in both January and November 1996.

The flooding caused millions of dollars in damages to homes, businesses and infrastructure, primarily in Delaware and Sullivan counties.

Both flood events resulted in federal disaster declarations for this area, which has a long history of flooding dating back to the late 1800s.

NY Board of water supply transcript relating to the Pepeacton and Cannonsville reservoirs

The Catskill / Delaware Watersheds

Ashokan Reservoir

Ashokan Reservoir
Photo from the city of NY - DEP

The Ashokan was constructed under the auspices of the New York City Board of Water Supply (BWS) between 1907 and 1915.

Its Olive Bridge Dam backed up Esopus waters for 12 miles, necessitating the removal of homes, farms, businesses, churches, schools and other structures throughout the valley.
Two-thousand residents were displaced as the city condemned eight communities: Shokan, Broadhead Bridge, Brown’s Station, Olive Bridge, West Hurley, Glenford, Olive and Ashton.

The blended waters reach the city’s distribution system through the 92-mile-long Catskill Aqueduct which consists of deep-rock tunnels, steel pipe siphons and buried conduits snaking beneath mountains, valleys and rivers.

The aqueduct burrows 1,114 feet beneath the Hudson River between Storm King and Breakneck Mountains near Cornwall.

Click here to see more photos of this reservoir

Cannonsville Reservoir

Photo by Gary Teed
Photo taken 2/2001 by Gary Teed; posted here with his premission

When a dam constructed across the West Branch of the Delaware River was closed in 1967, the village of Cannonsville in southwestern Delaware County was flooded and the Cannonsville Reservoir was formed.

The reservoir is about fifteen miles long and averages one-half mile wide. Maximum depth is about 140 feet with an average depth of 61 feet.

When full, the reservoir comprises 4800 surface acres and is 1150 feet above sea level. The reservoir was created to supply water to New York City, and water is diverted to the city via the West Delaware tunnel.

Water is also released into the West Branch of the Delaware River through values located at the base of the dam. These cold releases from the bottom of the reservoir have fostered an excellent trout fishery in the river below the dam.

Ice Lady
Photo by Teresa Bedford 2008

Common fish species include brown trout, smallmouth bass, brown bullhead, rock bass, yellow perch, white sucker, carp and alewife.

The Cannonsville Reservoir and 44 mile long underground aqueduct cost 140 million dollars to build. When the water filled the valley in 1966, it consumed 19,910 acres of Delaware County; eliminating 94 farms, destroying five settlements - Cannonsville, Granton, Rock Rift, Rock Royal and Beerston, and displacing 941 people.

New photos taken in the fall of 2001

Neversink Reservoir

The Neversink Reservoir a few miles distant in Sullivan County was constructed between 1941 and 1953

The aqueduct, 1,550 feet below ground at one point, runs 600 feet beneath the Hudson River at Chelsea.

Old Neversink by Geoff Brown, Between the Lakes Group, LLC
Great site of the full History of Neversink

Pepacton Reservoir

Pepacton Reservoir
Photo by Mike Szyszka

Pepacton Reservoir was created in 1955 by impounding the East Branch of the Delaware river near the village of Downsville in Delaware County. The impoundment was named after the small hamlet of Pepacton, which was covered under 120 feet of water.

The reservoir is about twenty miles long and averages about one-half mile wide. When full, the reservoir comprises 5700 surface acres and is 1280 feet above sea level. Water usage results in seasonal changes in reservoir levels. Although typically full between the months of March and June, water withdrawals usually result in a gradual drawdown of the reservoir during the summer and fall. Common fish species include brown trout, smallmouth bass, brown bullhead, rock bass, yellow perch, white sucker and alewife.

Click here to see more photos of this reservoir

Rondout Reservoir

The Rondout Reservoir straddling the Ulster and Sullivan County line was built between 1937 and 1954. It was first placed in service in 1951.

Schoharie Reservoir

Building a dam at Gilboa to create the Schoharie Reservoir. This reservoir, built between 1919 and 1927, forced the removal of 350 residents of the community of Gilboa and neighboring valley lands.

Water from the Schoharie is sent down the Shandaken Tunnel, an 18-mile-long conduit which leads to the Esopus Creek and then runs eastward into the Ashokan Reservoir.

Tomhannock Reservoir

near towns - Pittstown, Schaghticoke in Rensselaer County

Lost Towns

Cannonsville, NY
When a dam constructed across the West Branch of the Delaware River was closed in 1967, the village of Cannonsville in southwestern Delaware County was flooded and the Cannonsville Reservoir was formed.

Shavertown, NY