American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

On Tap: New York's Water Supply (Exhibition)
birth: 1986 December 12
death: 1987 August 2
Exhibition. Opened December 12, 1986 and closed August 2, 1987. Located in Section 4, Floor 1 in Gallery 1 at the American Museum of Natural History. On Tap: New York's Water Supply, curated by Sidney Horenstein of the Museum's Department of Invertebrates, examined the past, present, and future of New York's water supply as well as the geological, biological, historical, and engineering aspects of the City's water system.
Summary
On Tap: New York's Water Supply, curated by Sidney Horenstein, Senior Scientific Assistant in the Museum's Department of Invertebrates, examined the past, present, and future of New York's water supply as well as the geological, biological, historical, and engineering aspects of the City's water system. The exhibition featured artifacts, lithographs, photographs, videos, and maps (1, p. 1). The Museum's Department of Exhibition and Graphics built the exhibition with the cooperation of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. The Lucius N. Littauer Foundation provided funding for the exhibition (2, p. 53, 67).
The exhibition was arranged into seven sections, which included (1, p. 1):
*Early Water Supplies to 1842
*The Croton System
*The Catskill System
*The Delaware System
*Water Tunnel No. 3
*Conservation
*Future Supplies
The exhibition also featured (1, p. 1-2):
*The Collect (the site of Foley Square), a glacial "kettle" pond that was an early source of drinking water
*The Catskill Aqueduct System, where excavation for a pressure tunnel revealed a commercially rich deposit of lead and zinc that could never be mined
*Water Tunnel No. 3, a capital construction project begun in 1970, with location and depth determined by geological features of New York City
*The Croton Reservoir, believed to be responsible for the first appearance of the German roach in New York City and thought to be the home of several alligators
*A special police force created by the Board of Water Supply to patrol towns created for workers in the remote regions of the Catskills in the 1900s
This is a condensed summary of the exhibition. For additional information, see Sources and/or Related Resources.