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"Water-supply Political aspects New York (State) New York History."
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Empire of Water
Supplying water to millions is not simply an engineering and
logistical challenge. As David Soll shows in his finely observed
history of the nation's largest municipal water system, the task of
providing water to New Yorkers transformed the natural and built
environment of the city, its suburbs, and distant rural watersheds.
Almost as soon as New York City completed its first municipal water
system in 1842, it began to expand the network, eventually reaching
far into the Catskill Mountains, more than one hundred miles from
the city. Empire of Water explores the history of New York City's
water system from the late nineteenth century to the early
twenty-first century, focusing on the geographical, environmental,
and political repercussions of the city's search for more
water.
Soll vividly recounts the profound environmental implications
for both city and countryside. Some of the region's most prominent
landmarks, such as the High Bridge across the Harlem River, Central
Park's Great Lawn, and the Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster County, have
their origins in the city's water system. By tracing the evolution
of the city's water conservation efforts and watershed management
regime, Soll reveals the tremendous shifts in environmental
practices and consciousness that occurred during the twentieth
century. Few episodes better capture the long-standing
upstate-downstate divide in New York than the story of how mountain
water came to flow from spigots in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Soll concludes by focusing on the landmark watershed protection
agreement signed in 1997 between the city, watershed residents,
environmental organizations, and the state and federal governments.
After decades of rancor between the city and Catskill residents,
the two sides set aside their differences to forge a new model of
environmental stewardship. His account of this unlikely
environmental success story offers a behind the scenes perspective
on the nation's most ambitious and wide-ranging watershed
protection program.
eBook
Lead, Flint, and Grandfather
Blood lead levels of American children probably peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, thereafter declining sharply because of the mandated removal of lead from gasoline. Blood lead is associated with declining IQ, but puzzlingly, measured IQ of American children increased in the decades when lead was added to gas as well as in decades after it was removed. No level of blood lead is considered safe, but to put in perspective the alarming levels reported recently in Flint, MI, these are far lower than lead levels common in American children during the 1970s, and if there are consequent declines in IQ, they would be small. Flint, certainly not the worst lead contaminated area of the nation, was given inordinate attention by
The New York Times
beginning in January 2016, creating a national alarm as well as panic among Flint residents, already suffering the problems of a poor and degrading city. In early 2016, increasing news coverage “rode the waves” of the presidential primaries and the Black Lives Matter movement, then largely dropped from public attention by the summer, perhaps lessening the political pressure to relieve Flint.
Journal Article