Indian Point poses a significant threat to New York City’s drinking water supply system. New York City’s drinking water supply comes from three upstate watersheds. These watersheds provide up to 1.5 billion gallons of unfiltered drinking water per day to more than 9 million citizens in New York City, and parts of Westchester, Putnam, Orange, and Ulster counties. New York City cannot exist without its water supply.

The Catskill and Delaware watersheds provide up to ninety percent of New York City’s drinking water. Traveling from as far as 125 miles away, aqueducts deposit this water into both the West Branch Reservoir in Putnam County and the Kensico Reservoir in Westchester County. The Croton watershed, east of the Hudson River, provides the remaining 10 to 30% of the water supply.

Flexibility is one of the greatest aspects of the water supply. New York City has the ability to switch sources of water and shift water between watersheds. It is this flexibility that also makes forecasting the impacts of an Indian Point incident on the water supply so complex – there are a number of variables to consider. Although many variables exist, one thing remains constant – a nuclear incident at Indian Point likely would cause grave harm to the water supply. The following is a simplified forecast of Indian Point’s potential impacts on the water supply.

The Croton Reservoir, which is the terminal reservoir for 10% of the drinking water supply or up to 30% of the supply during a drought, is located a mere 4.5 miles east-southeast of Indian Point. If the Croton Reservoir is impacted by an incident at Indian Point, New York City would lose 10 to 30% of its water supply; the City cannot bypass the Croton Reservoir.

The Kensico Reservoir, through which 90% of the water supply passes, is located only 16 miles southeast of Indian Point. If the Kensico Reservoir is rendered unusable by an Indian Point disaster, the City would lose its most important settling basin and approximately 30 billion gallons of water. The City could, however, bypass the Kensico and send Catskill/Delaware water directly to the Hillview Reservoir in Yonkers. Also, if the Kensico is impacted, it is likely that the Croton would be affected.

The Hillview Reservoir is located 26 miles south-southeast of Indian Point. In simple terms: if the Hillview is impacted, the City loses 90% of its water supply. In addition, if the Hillview is impacted, it is likely that the Croton is unusable; therefore, the City would lose virtually all of its water supply (not including a few contaminated wells in Queens).

Although there are numerous variables to consider, the bottom line is that a nuclear incident at Indian Point would wreak havoc on New York City’s water supply system. The impact on New York City and the tri-state area will be catastrophic. Such an event, in all probability, will result in an exodus of people from Westchester and New York City. The implications for the City and its future are too dire to contemplate.

The State REPP and the Indian Point REPP are short on specific details for the plan to protect the reservoirs and water supply of over eight million residents of New York City and residents in the lower Hudson Valley. Nor is there a contingency plan that provides alternative sources of drinking water for NYC and Hudson Valley residents. When FEMA reviewed Assemblyman Brodsky’s 2002 Interim Report analysis of the failure of the Indian Point RERP to address contamination of the water supply, it succinctly summed up the problem. FEMA Region II recently said that the State needed to improve its efforts and better notify the Counties about what was expected in an emergency situation, recommending that the “State work with the counties to clarify the water supply plans in event of contamination. Contaminated waters supplies fall into the ingestion pathway category under which NYS assumes control of the coordination of the response from the counties. The State with support from the federal response will assure protection from this radiological pathway.”