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"Watershed management 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
The Highlands
Think of the Highlands as the \"backyard\" and \"backstop\" of the Philadelphia-New York-Hartford metroplex. A backyard that spans over three million acres across Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut, the Highlands serves as recreational open space for the metroplex's burgeoning human population. As backstop, Highlands' watersheds provide a ready source of high-quality drinking water for over fifteen million people.
The Highlandsis the first book to examine the natural and cultural landscape of this four-state region, showing how it's distinctive and why its conservation is vital. Each chapter is written by a different leading researcher and specialist in that field, and introduces readers to another aspect of the Highlands: its geological foundations, its aquifers and watersheds, its forest ecology, its past iron industry.
In the 1800s, the Highlands were mined, cutover, and then largely abandoned. Given time, the forests regenerated, the land healed, and the waters cleared. Increasingly, however, the Highlands are under assault again-polluted runoff contaminating lakes and streams, invasive species choking out the local flora and fauna, exurban sprawl blighting the rural landscape, and climate change threatening the integrity of its ecosystems.
The Highlandsmakes a compelling case for land use planning and resource management strategies that could help ensure a sustainable future for the region, strategies that could in turn be applied to other landscapes threatened by urbanization across the country. The Highlands are a valuable resource. And now, so isThe Highlands.
eBook