Called simply tunnel 1 and tunnel 2, provide most of the citys water supply. They run hundreds of feet below manhattan, far deeper than the subways. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, they are concretelined and bored through solid rock. They could last centuries. But the mechanical equipment within them will not. Engineers in the 1950s discovered rust on the tunnels valves. There were concerns that if they closed the valves for tunnel inspections, they may never open again, leaving new york city without water. So they chose to keep them open. As a result, there has not been significant inspection, maintenance, or repair of the tunnels in decades. No one knows their current condition. Hurwitz currently, city tunnel 1 and city Tunnel Number 2 would be feeding each half of the city. So youd lose half the city if you didnt have a replacement. Narrator without half of its water supply, the city would shut down. For nearly 40 years, new york has been in the process of constructing a
Of new york city. Reliable infrastructure and Reliable Delivery of water is a must. You have to reinvest in the infrastructure every single minute to keep it current. Hurwitz we have the stock exchange, we have the United Nations failure can have a dramatic impact on the nation, and even internationally. So theres a really keen awareness that you always have to be fixing the system. Things corrode, they rust. They get to where you turn them on and nothing happens. But it is so totally used in every nook and cranny, that making any accommodation to shut it down, to do something to it, is very difficult. Narrator two Massive Underground tunnels, called simply tunnel 1 and tunnel 2, provide most of the citys water supply. They run hundreds of feet below manhattan, far deeper than the subways. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, they are concretelined and bored through solid rock. They could last centuries. But the mechanical equipment within them will not. Engineers in the 1950s d
It was not a reportable disease. Narrator epa standards did not safeguard against cryptosporidium, because it was an unknown threat. Once it contaminated the water supply, the Treatment Plant had no capability to kill the pathogen. So it spread throughout the system. Biedrzycki we saw an expenditure of 90 million to upgrade both water Treatment Plants. Kaminski cryptosporidium was a wakeup call. It was a wakeup call for us. Its a wakeup call for the nation. Take care of your infrastructure before you have the kind of problem we had. Biedrzycki by no stretch of the imagination do i think were out of the woods. Recent cdc statistics indicate that up to 32 million cases of waterborne disease occur each year in this country. Roy but the vast majority of waterborne outbreaks go undetected. When people first get ill, they think, oh, its something i ate last night. They dont think, oh, its something i drank last night. Narrator the milwaukee incident pointed out the potential vulnerability of
Engineers in the 1950s discovered rust on the tunnels valves. There were concerns that if they closed the valves for tunnel inspections, they may never open again, leaving new york city without water. So they chose to keep them open. As a result, there has not been significant inspection, maintenance, or repair of the tunnels in decades. No one knows their current condition. Hurwitz currently, city tunnel 1 and city Tunnel Number 2 would be feeding each half of the city. So youd lose half the city if you didnt have a replacement. Narrator without half of its water supply, the city would shut down. For nearly 40 years, new york has been in the process of constructing a solution. Man this project is water Tunnel Number 3. We started on this project in 1969. Im a sandhog. Ive been a sandhog for 37 years. Narrator sandhogs are the men of local 147, who work deep below the city. They began building the infrastructure of new york in 1872. From the subways to the sewers, the water tunnels to
They get to where you turn them on and nothing happens. But it is so totally used in every nook and cranny, that making any accommodation to shut it down, to do something to it, is very difficult. Narrator two Massive Underground tunnels, called simply tunnel 1 and tunnel 2, provide most of the citys water supply. They run hundreds of feet below manhattan, far deeper than the subways. Built at the beginning of the 20th century, they are concretelined and bored through solid rock. They could last centuries. But the mechanical equipment within them will not. Engineers in the 1950s discovered rust on the tunnels valves. There were concerns that if they closed the valves for tunnel inspections, they may never open again, leaving new york city without water. So they chose to keep them open. As a result, there has not been significant inspection, maintenance, or repair of the tunnels in decades. No one knows their current condition. Hurwitz currently, city tunnel 1 and city Tunnel Number 2 w