Schoharie Release Works
We continue to make progress on the release works at Schoharie Reservoir.
When completed, these tunnels will provide us with the ability to release water from the Schoharie Reservoir into Schoharie Creek. That ability will enable us to facilitate the ongoing maintenace of Gilboa Dam, respond to potential emergencies, mitigate flood risk for downstream communities, and enhance the downstream habitat for fish and wildlife. The release works are expected to be completed in 2020.
The release works are one component of a larger $400 million program aimed at strengthening the 90-year-old Gilboa Dam and ensuring that Schoharie Reservoir continues to provide reliable, high-quality drinking water to New York City in the future. The program began with the full-scale rehabilitation of Gilboa Dam, a $138 million project that finished in 2014. We implemented the program of repairs and upgrades at Schoharie Reservoir more than a decade ago to achieve modern dam safety standards at Gilboa Dam.
Gilboa Dam was built from 1919 to 1927 and impounds Schoharie Reservoir, the northernmost reservoir in New York City’s water supply system. Schoharie Reservoir can store up to 19.6 billion gallons of water, and it accounts for nearly 15 percent of the drinking water delivered to New Yorkers each day. It collects water from a 314-square-mile watershed and diverts that water through the 18-mile Shandaken Tunnel, which discharges into Esopus Creek where it travels another 11 miles before entering Ashokan Reservoir. From Ashokan Reservoir, the water flows south through the Catskill Aqueduct to New York City.
