Tuesday, June 1, 2021

NYC Water Supply: 1917 Kensico Dam on Bronx River

(Satellite)

I've studied the NYC water supply dam of Croton, so it is only fair that I study this dam that is closer to the city.

Nicholas Minorsky posted
Steam locomotive (on the right of the photo) used to transport quarry stone to Kensico Dam, NY construction site. The stone was used for the downstream face of this reservoir dam.

Via TheHarlemLine
This 1917 dam replaced the original dam built in 1885. Now the 92-mile Catskill Aqueduct feeds water into the reservoir of this dam. "The main building material used in the dam is concrete mixed with large stones, called Cyclopean concrete. The dam face is made of large granite stones from a quarry in nearby Cranberry Lake."

Most dams have at least a small river downstream. Looking at a satellite image, this one has a park instead of a river! The dam is over 300' tall and more than 1800' long. The park contains 1400 acres. [OnlyInYourState] Although the developed part is 98 acres and is called the Kensico Dam Plaza. [TheHarlemLine] I guess NYC drinks the entire contents of the river that used to be here. The reservoir is fed mainly by an aqueduct rather than a watershed and that explains why they don't need a spillway to a downstream river.
TheHarlamLine, this page has three more photos of this memorial and many more photos of the park.
"In addition to the dam, the grounds also contains a September 11th Memorial, called The Rising, designed by architect Frederic Schwartz. The memorial lists the names of all one hundred and eleven Westchester County residents that died in the attacks."


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