Lake DeForest, also called DeForest Lake, 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 ...

Clarkstown, New York Clarkstown is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States. The town is on the eastern border of the county, located north of the town of Orangetown, east of the town of Ramapo, south of the town of Haverstraw, and west of the Hudson Ri ...

, created in 1956 by impounding the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...

, which is a principal part of the

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...

for

Rockland County, New York Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of t ...

and

Northern New Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of northern New Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquial one rather than an administrativ ...

, mainly

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

and

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...

counties. The reservoir is owned and operated by

Suez North America Suez North America, founded as the Hackensack Water Company in 1869 and later named United Water, is an American water service company headquartered in Paramus, New Jersey. It owns and operates 16 water and waste water utilities, and operates 90 ...

, and is the most upstream of its reservoirs along the river's watershed, the others being

Lake Tappan Lake Tappan is a reservoir impounded by the Tappan Dam on the Hackensack River, straddling the border between the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York. Within New Jersey, the lake traverses the border separating the municipalities of Riv ...

, the

Woodcliff Lake Reservoir Woodcliff Lake is the name of a reservoir in Woodcliff Lake and portions of Hillsdale and Park Ridge, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It was created circa 1903 by damming the Pascack Brook and is also fed by the Bear Brook which ...

, and the

Oradell Reservoir The Oradell Reservoir is a reservoir formed by the Oradell Reservoir Dam on the Hackensack River in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. Geography The Oradell Reservoir Dam is located primarily in the borough of Oradell, but the reservoir ...

. It has a storage capacity of 5.6 billion gallons. Swimming and bathing are disallowed because the water is reserved for potable use. The lake is traversed by a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...

carrying Congers Road (CR 80).

History

The lake was developed by an interstate partnership of the Hackensack Water Company (of New Jersey) and the Spring Valley Water Company (of

Spring Valley, New York Spring Valley is a village in the towns of Ramapo and Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Chestnut Ridge, east of Airmont and Monsey, south of Hillcrest, and west of Nanuet. The population was 33, ...

), to provide water on both sides of the state line. Adrian Leiby's monograph, ''The Hackensack Water Company, 1869-1969'', describes the conception of the lake (owing chiefly to George F. Wieghardt, chief engineer from 1938 to 1954); the sense that the proposed lake needed to be built soon, before any ill-advised new housing developments on the swampy lowlands would preclude it; and the difficulty in refuting

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

among the public that the proposed lake was a plan by New Jersey thieves to steal water from New York state or to create miles of "smelly mud flats" in Clarkstown. By the time of a severe drought in 1963-65, Leiby noted, public approval of the attractive lake and the

water security Water security is the focused goal of water policy and water management. A society with a high level of water security makes the most of water's benefits for humans and ecosystems and limits the risk of destructive impacts associated with water. T ...

it provided was nearly universal; writing in 1969, he said, "Twelve years later it is hard to believe that there is a single person in the County who would willingly see DeForest Lake drained and its land filled with development houses." The lake is named after Henry L. deForest, president of Hackensack Water Company from 1936 to 1950, under whose presidency the lake was conceived; at the time that the completed lake was dedicated on March 13, 1957, Henry L. deForest had recently died. Henry's father, Robert W. DeForest, had led the Hackensack Water Company from 1881 to 1926. The Hackensack Water Company and the Spring Valley Water Company had long cooperated, the former being a chief stockholder of the latter; they were merged into United Water Resources in the 1980s, which was later acquired by Suez North America.

References

{{authority control DeForest Hackensack River Protected areas of Rockland County, New York United Water Dams completed in 1956 DeForest

History

See also

References