USA: New York City Department of Environmental Protection

Hatch Mott MacDonald JV improves viaducts supplying New York City’s drinking water

The Delaware Aqueduct, completed in 1944, supplies more than 500 million gallons of drinking water per day, to meet about half of New York City’s needs.

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has initiated a $1.2-billion project to address leaks in the aqueduct, which consists of 85 miles of rock tunnels up to 19.5 feet in diameter and 1,500 feet deep.

Hatch Mott MacDonald (HMM), in a joint venture, is undertaking facility planning and conceptual design of a three-mile-long bypass tunnel that will address one of the most problematic sections of the existing aqueduct.

The bypass tunnel, which will cross beneath the Hudson River, will be 600 to 900 feet deep, with a peak capacity of 890 million gallons per day. Under the same contract, HMM is also completing detailed design of a 365-million-gallon-per-day interconnection between the City’s Delaware and Catskill Aqueducts.