Catskill Mountainkeeper Leads Trek From Mountaintop to Tap

Mountaintops to Tap

By Tara Collins

A map showing the Mountaintops to Tap route.

Ever wonder where your water comes from? A dozen high schoolers did and are embarking on a journey this month to trace the course of New York City’s fresh water from its sources in the Catskill Mountains to the City itself. “Mountaintop to Tap” is designed to educate the public on the quality of water in the New York City watershed. Twelve students, six from the New York Harbor School and six from Sidney Central High School, represent an upstate/downstate entourage in a quest to track clean water. Led by three chaperones, and assisted along the way by a team of scientists, photographers and moral supporters, the group will explore, on foot and by boat, the water’s course from start to finish. They will visit farms, talk to local officials and people whose lives have been affected by the vast water-supply system, and take scientific samples of the streams and reservoirs. They will pass on the knowledge they’ve acquired by talking to others about what they have learned and how we can all help protect the future of our clean, fresh water. After eight days of hiking and canoeing in the West-of-Hudson watershed, the students will board boats near Kingston and row down the Hudson River to Croton Point Park. From there they will follow the Old Croton Aqueduct to New York City, where their journey ends with the final leg from High Bridge in Van Cortlandt Park to Central Park on Saturday, July 28. The public is invited to participate and cheer them on. The students will chronicle their observations in both photographs and journal entries, which will be showcased at the South Street Seaport Museum in Manhattan from October 27 to November 25. The show will then travel to the New York Harbor School in Brooklyn, the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development in Arkville and the Stroud Water Research Center in Avondale, PA. The program is spearheaded by the Stroud Center, whose scientists completed six years of extensive research on the New York water supply system in 2006. Other agencies involved with the trek include the Catskill Center; Catskill Mountainkeeper; New York City Department of Environmental Protection; New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; Hudson Riverkeeper; the Watershed Agricultural Council; New York Harbor School, and the South Street Seaport Museum. “Our goal is to have the students become the agents for educating the public about the source and protection of this drinking water supply—and about the vital and little-recognized connections between the City and the upstate watersheds,” notes trek organizer Christina Medved, Education Programs Manager for the Stroud Center. This year, 2007, marks the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement, whose aim is to protect the 2000-square-mile area that supplies New York City with its fresh water. By bringing together representatives from all the stakeholders in the watersheds, the MOA also sought to end decades of animosity between the City and rural upstate communities. While this landmark agreement can serve as a model for resolving water conflicts around the world, its own successful implementation is still not certain.

The trekkers’ backgrounds highlight the diversity of the watershed. Six of the students attend the New York Harbor School in Brooklyn; they represent the end users in the water supply chain. The other six hail from Sidney Central High School in Delaware County; they represent the communities where the water supply originates. Ultimately, however, the trek’s aim is to teach the participants about the diverse human and natural ecosystems that provide fresh water for nine million people. The three-week trip will combine an innovative learning program with a rigorous outdoor experience. Along the way, the students will have a variety of experiences aimed at helping them understand the ecosystems that provide their drinking water, the needs and histories of the region’s peoples, and the critical and often testy relationship that binds together the City and its watersheds. They will test the water’s quality and learn about protecting the watersheds. Students, through press events, will share publicly what they have learned. “By giving the students as much responsibility as possible, our goal is that they become the experts on the issues and the spokespersons and interpreters of the watershed,” said Medved, adding that the role of the adults will be to provide guidance, safety and support. Each student will keep a personal journal and each will be given a camera so that they can chronicle their journeys. Bob Caputo, a professional photographer with National Geographic for over 25 years, taught the students how to capture an image that tells a story. He’ll also help them edit their pictures and prepare them for the fall exhibit. Caputo is known for his photo essays tracking the Nile, Congo and Orinoco rivers from their sources to the sea. The trek’s ultimate goal is to help people understand the role the watershed and its upstate residents play in the life of the City and its people. By improving public understanding of the connection between the sources and the uses of fresh water, and of the disparate peoples who depend on the water system, residents on both ends of the water supply will better understand the dynamics of the watershed system they live in. “Moreover,” says Medved, “these issues are not unique to New York. Clean water is a universal concern and one of the most important issues facing us all in the 21st century.” The trek will revolve around four landscapes, four histories and four cultures. New York City’s water supply originates in the Delaware River Watershed, where agriculture and farmland play a pivotal role in water quality. Agencies such as NYC DEP and the Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) work with the region’s farmers to help them implement best management practices that will keep good land in production while protecting water quality. The second landscape is the mountains and forests of the Catskill Mountains, where the WAC, DEP and Catskill Center work to keep forests a viable resource and water-filtering ecosystem. Easement programs and the establishment of public open space like the Catskills Mountain Forest and Park help buffer water quality from development and industrialization. As the water gathers in reservoirs and makes it way through various aqueduct systems to New York City, it travels through the third landscape—the suburbs east of the Hudson—before arriving in New York City, the fourth landscape and the water’s final destination.

Since the beginning of time, people have settled beside water. “Water plays a vital role in our lives, much of which we take for granted,” notes Medved. “Not only do rivers provide drinking water, this water flow is used in sanitation, irrigation, food processing, waste removal, transportation, hydropower and recreation. Of course, the real beauty of rivers is the unyielding force of nature, which guides water downstream. So often we use water without thinking much about it. This trek encourages people to take a step back and look at how we use water, how different users compete for it, and what its overall impact on our daily lives is.” Science plays a vital role in the three-week trek. Riverkeeper, Catskill Mountainkeeper, NYC DEP and the Stroud Center all have studied the science behind the ecosystem. “Trekkers will learn about the structure and function of a stream,” says Medved. “They’ll learn how to test water and administer water-quality assessments like our field experts.” The delicate balance of small streams and their living organisms hinges on human behavior. People can negatively impact water quality through pollution, run-off and development. People can also contribute positively to water quality by establishing riparian (forest) buffers and implementing land stewardship and clean water practices. State-mandated decisions that caused the flooding of valley towns like Pepacton, Ashokan and Shavertown led to decades of ill feelings toward New York City water drinkers. The socio-economic impact of these decisions has continued to trickle down through the generations. Families were uprooted, towns and homes destroyed, cemeteries unearthed. However, a larger vision prevailed, one of providing clean water to millions of Americans 100 miles downstream. This vision, in turn, generated some of the most skilled and revolutionary engineering ever undertaken. Dams, reservoirs, aqueducts and tunnels were created that brought water through an unnatural path of concrete to its final destination. A New York City water user tax now pays for upstate easement programs, best management practices on farms and forest lands and water quality grants. The trek seeks to foster public awareness of both the importance and the vulnerability of the New York system. Hopefully, millions of New Yorkers, both upstate and down river, will connect with the message presented by these 12 students. Their own lives reflect the diversity of the immense watershed. Their 200-mile journey tracking the trail of water will shed much needed light on the importance of protecting water sources. That vital connection exists between the City and the upstate watersheds—a clean water trail—from mountaintop to tap.