The Schoharie Reservoir is a
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
in the
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...
of
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
that was created to be one of 19 reservoirs that supplies
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
with water. It was created by impounding
Schoharie Creek. Portions of it lie in the towns of
Conesville and
Gilboa in
Schoharie County
Schoharie County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 29,714, making it the state's fifth-least populous county. The county ...
,
Roxbury in
Delaware County, and
Prattsville in
Greene County.
History
Even after the
Ashokan Reservoir
The Ashokan Reservoir (; Iroquoian languages, Iroquois for "place of fish") is a reservoir (water), reservoir in Ulster County, New York. It is at the eastern end of the Catskill Park, and is one of several in the region created to New York City ...
was created as New York City's thirteenth reservoir and the
Kensico Reservoir
The Kensico Reservoir is a reservoir spanning the towns of Armonk ( North Castle) and Valhalla ( Mount Pleasant), New York, located 3 miles (5 km) north of White Plains. It was formed by the original earth and gravel Kensico Dam constructed in 18 ...
was completed soon after to store its water, the water supply was still insufficient for the city's high population. A search for a new location led to the village of
Gilboa, New York
Gilboa is a town in Schoharie County, New York, United States. The population was 1,215 at the 2000 census.
The Town of Gilboa is in the southern part of the county and is southwest of Albany.
History
The town was first settled around 1760. ...
, which was purchased and its residents evacuated through condemnation.
Site preparation destroyed most of the area's trees and buildings up to the water line. The dam was built during the early 1920s out of stone bricks. Flooding was completed in 1924. The village of Gilboa was relocated to the west; traces of it can still be seen during a
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
.
The resulting reservoir, the northernmost of the New York City system, is located 36 miles (58 km) southwest of
Albany and roughly 110 miles (180 km) northwest of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It lies at the southern end of
Schoharie County
Schoharie County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 29,714, making it the state's fifth-least populous county. The county ...
, the northeastern end of
Delaware County, and at the northwestern end of
Greene County. It neighbors such towns as Gilboa, Prattsville, and Conesville. It is an impounded portion of the Schoharie Creek, a tributary of the
Mohawk River
The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...
, itself a tributary of the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
.
The resulting reservoir consists of a single 6-mile (9.6-km) basin, and holds of water at full capacity, making it one of the smaller New York City reservoirs. Put into service in 1926,
the Schoharie Reservoir provides nine million people with approximately 15-16 percent of their annual water supply needs. It is also the smaller of the two reservoirs which, along with the Ashokan Reservoir, in Olive, New York, make up the New York City Catskill Water System. Overflow from the Schoharie Reservoir tops the
Gilboa Dam and runs back into Schoharie Creek, ultimately flowing into the Hudson River.
Water from the Schoharie Reservoir flows to New York City through the -long
Shandaken Tunnel
The Shandaken Tunnel is an aqueduct in Eastern New York State, part of the New York City water supply system. It was constructed between 1916 and 1924. The tunnel starts in Gilboa, New York at the Schoharie Reservoir, which is in the counties o ...
, and empties into the
Esopus Creek
Esopus Creek is a tributary of the Hudson River that drains the east-central Catskill Mountains in the U.S. state of New York. From its source at Winnisook Lake on the slopes of Slide Mountain, the Catskills' highest peak, it flows across Uls ...
at
Shandaken. Another 11 miles (18 km) down the Esopus it empties into the Ashokan Reservoir. From there water enters the 92-mile (147 km)
Catskill Aqueduct to the
Kensico Reservoir
The Kensico Reservoir is a reservoir spanning the towns of Armonk ( North Castle) and Valhalla ( Mount Pleasant), New York, located 3 miles (5 km) north of White Plains. It was formed by the original earth and gravel Kensico Dam constructed in 18 ...
, thence to New York City.
Gilboa Dam
The high
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
and stone brick Gilboa Dam in Schoharie County was completed in 1926.
Over time the dam eroded to where it posed a potential threat to those living downstream. In December 2005, the
New York City Department of Environmental Protection
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's water supply and works to reduce air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution.
Under a 1.3 billion do ...
began a $24 million project to bring the dam up to New York State safety standards. Beginning in December 2006 eighty post-tensioned anchoring cables were installed through holes drilled in the dam into bedrock below, bringing it up to state standards. During this overhaul, residents nearby complained that their tap water had turned a brownish color, perhaps due to the intense drilling into the earth to anchor the dam.
Schoharie County planned and authorized the Gilboa Dam Failure Outdoor Warning System, which was installed by Mid-State Communications. New York City paid for the system consisting of twenty sirens stretching from the Town of Gilboa to the
Town of Esperance, ending at the Montgomery County line.
A larger, full-scale overhaul of the Gilboa Dam began in the summer of 2011 after five years of planning. Estimated to cost $350 million, the project will add significant mass to the dam, install floodgates, and include a large tunnel bypass allowing water to be released safely from the reservoir into Schoharie Creek. A citizens advocacy group, called Dam Concerned Citizens, Inc., was formed to monitor structural vulnerabilities in order to ensure the safety of those living downstream.
On August 28, 2011, after receiving as much as of rainfall from
Hurricane Irene
Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 At ...
, the Gilboa Dam was placed in a level B situation. Though the dam was intact, the heavy upstream rainfall from the hurricane prompted officials to issue an evacuation order for downstream residents, including a mandatory evacuation of the towns of
Middleburgh and
Schoharie.
The evacuation order was due to the heavy rainfall and not due to a dam failure. After a minor
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
on August 27, 2011 was recorded in the region and in response to the
2011 Virginia earthquake which occurred on August 23, 2011 and was felt as far north as
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
New York Governor
The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ha ...
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
ordered an infrastructure inspection which included the Gilboa Dam. Governor Cuomo visited the dam on the morning of August 28, 2011 to report that officials had discovered no impacts to the dam from recent seismic activity.
See also
*
List of reservoirs and dams in New York
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
{{authority control
Reservoirs in New York (state)
Protected areas of Delaware County, New York
Protected areas of Greene County, New York
Protected areas of Schoharie County, New York
Reservoirs in Delaware County, New York
Reservoirs in Greene County, New York
Reservoirs in Schoharie County, New York