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 control ...

in Clarkstown, New York, 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 suburba ...

, 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. T ...

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 administrat ...

, 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 o ...

and Hudson counties. The reservoir is owned and operated by Suez North America, and is the most upstream of its reservoirs along the river's watershed, the others being Lake Tappan, the Woodcliff Lake Reservoir, and the Oradell 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 ...

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 Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the towns of Ramapo, New York, Ramapo and Clarkstown, New York, Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, Rockland County, New York (state), New York, United States. It i ...

), 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 neg ...

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 Robert Weeks DeForest (1848–1931) was an American lawyer, financier, and philanthropist. Early life Robert Weeks DeForest was born to Henry Grant and Julia Mary Weeks DeForest in New York City on April 25, 1848, of French Huguenot ancestr ...

, 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