For nearly 400 years the topic of water has been a hot button issue for New Yorkers. One of the first major sources of fresh water came from a sparkling 60 foot deep 5 acre spring-fed pond surrounded by high bluffs in Lower Manhattan called Collect Pond or simply The Collect. In less than 200 years, New Yorkers had polluted The Collect so badly it was eventually filled in and its surrounding wetlands were drained into the Hudson River via an open canal that also became so horribly polluted it had to be covered over. Canal Street follows its course today.
As the city expanded north, wells with street level pumps that tapped subterranean aquifers sprang up throughout New York City, but just like The Collect, those wells were polluted and the pumps were removed. NYC’s demand for fresh water eventually forced city planners to look outside the city for larger and more reliable sources of water, leading to the development of a complex network of upstate reservoirs and aqueducts that citizens and visitors of Gotham both celebrate and revile to this very day. Yet despite massive urbanization, fresh water springs can still be found throughout New York City.