GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

CIRCULAR 601-A 

Water for the Citiesthe Outlook 

Water for the Citi-esthe Outlook 

By William J. Schneider and Andrew M. Spieker 

WATER IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT 

G E 0 L 0 G I CAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 601-A 

Washington 1969 
United States Department of the Interior 

THOMAS S. KLEPPE, Secretary 

Geological Survey 

V. E. McKelvey, Director 

First printing 1969 

Second printing 1970 

Third printing 1976 

Free on application to Branch of Distribution, U.S. Geological Survey 

1200 South Eads Street, Arlington, Va. 22202 
FOREWORD 

Urbanization-the concentration of people in urban areas and the 

consequent expansion of these areas-is a characteristic of our time. It has 

brought with it a host of new or aggravated problems that often make new 

demands on our natural resources and our physical environment. Problems 

involving water as a vital resource and a powerful environmental agent are 

among the most critical. These problems include the maintenance of both 

the quantity and quality of our water supply for consumption, for 

recreation, and general welfare and the alleviation of hazards caused by 

floods, drainage, erosion, and sedimentation. 

A prerequisite to anticipating, recognizing, and coping intelligently with 

these problems is an adequate base of information. This series of reports is 

intended to show the relevance of water facts to water problems of urban 

areas and to examine the adequacy of the existing base of water information. 

6 ~ .7d~~,k-/ 

E. L. Hendricks, 

Chief Hydrologist 

III 

CONTENTS 

Page 

-Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III 

Abstract .................................................. A 1 

The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 

Miami, Fla. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 

New York City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 

Northeast drought of 1961-66 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 

Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 

Selected references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 

v 

Water in the Urban Environment 

Water for the Cities-the Outlook1 

By William J. Schneider and Andrew M. Spieker 

ABSTRACT 

Except perhaps for the arid Southwest, water 

resources are generally sufficient to meet the needs of 

cities for the foreseeable future. Cities will continue to 

expand and additional rural areas will be converted to 

urban and suburban complexes. Demands for urban 

water will continue to rise and this will place a heavy 

strain on existing systems. 

Cities have always faced water problems. This has 

largely been the result of "crisis planning" or apathy. 

Immediate needs and minimum cost have been the 

governing criteria in solving water problems, as cities 

developed local supplies unilaterally and only at scales to 

meet local foreseeable demands. Most city water 

problems, however, have not been the result of shortages 

of sources of water,· but rather the result of overta.xed 

collection, storage, and distribution systems. This is 

verified by the experience of the Northeast during the 

recent prolonged drought. 

Rapid expansion of urban areas, particularly in the 

large metropolitan complexes of the United States, is 

placing urban political entities in ever closer 

juxtaposition to each other. The large demand for water 

for each entity is resulting in competition for available 

sources and is rapidly reaching critical proportions. 

Increasing awareness of the role of water in our society 

further complicates this competition. Pollution 

abatement , recreation, wildlife conservation, and 

aesthetics are demands now recognized by both rural 

and urban areas. Future development of water resources 

must consider regional demands and resources. Only in 

this way can . our reasonably abundant water resources 

lThis paper was presented at a symposium on "Geology and the urbanization process," at a meeting of the 

Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of 

America, Albany, N.Y., March 14, 1969. 

meet the severe demands imposed by our rapidly 

expanding urban areas. 

THE PROBLEM 

If water is used as a criterion of evaluation, 

we are indeed an affluent society. All economic 

levels of our society use it extravagantly. This is 

especially true of the urban dweller and his 

suburban neighbor who are a~ustomed to an 

almost unlimited supply at the turn of a faucet 

handle. Our society in 1965 used more than 150 

bgd (billion gallons per day) of water to tr~et its 

needs and satiate its desires, exclusive o~ rural 

and agricultural uses. In addition to this direct 

use, the social impact of water resources is 

increasing demands for its consideration for fish 

and wildlife conservation, recreation, and 

aesthetics. Because water is neither created nor 

destroyed in sufficient quantity to alter 

significantly its total amount on earth, our 

supply is essentially limited. But is this supply 

sufficient? Are we running out of watr.r? To 

answer this, though, we must also conrider a 

related question: Why do our cities now face 

water problems? 

The United States is rapidly becoming an 

urbanized society. According to Bureau of 

Census figures, about 130 million people-two 

out of every three persons-liv~d in 

metropolitan areas in 1965. Between 1960 and 

1965, this urban population increased br more 

than 11 million people-an increase of over 9 

percent. To meet the demands for this urban 

J 1 
population, municipal water systems are 

supplying more than 24 billion gallons of water 

per day. 

If population predictions can be relied upon 

and existing water-use practices are continued, 

during the next decade and a half the United 

States will be called upon to provide more than 

twice this amount of water to meet the demands 

of the metropolitan areas. Population 

predictions estimate that by the year 2000, 

about 280 million people will live in 

metropolitan areas-about 85 percent of the 

population of the United States. Supplying 

water for this urban growth will be a major 

challenge to the urban planner, the engineer, and 

the geologist. 

Lewis Mumford ( 1956, p. 395) sums up the 

urban water demand as follows: "Already, New 

York and Philadelphia*** find themselves 

competing for the same water supply, as Los 

Angeles competes with the whole state of 

Arizona. Thus, though modern technology has 

escaped from the limitations of a purely local 

supply of water, the massing of population 

makes demands that even apart from excessive 

costs (which rise steadily as distance increases), 

put a definite limit to the possibilities of further 

urbanization. Water shortages may indeed limit 

the present distribution long before food 

shortages bring population growth to an end." 

Mumford may be overly pessimistic in his 

outlook, though. Hydrologic data indicate that 

enough water is generally available for man's 

needs, but not always where and when he needs 

it or at a cost he considers reasonable. According 

to the Water Resources Council's First National 

Assessment (1968), water demands for all uses 

tota 1 ed 270 bgd in 1965, with a consumptive 

use of 78 bgd. Projected requirements for the 

year 2020 show total demands will be at 1 ,368 

bgd and consumptive use, at 157 bgd. This 

current demand is less than 7 percent of the 

average of 4,200 bgd precipitation that falls on 

the conterminous United States, and the 

projected demand is less than 33 percent of the 

A2 

present average. However, seasonal and spatial 

variability in precipitation make these figures 

misleading; the history of water supplies for 

urban areas has been a CQtl~tant cycle of 

shortage and development. A loo~ at the history 

of municipal supply for two major cities and at 

the regional effect of the recent Northeast 

drought will illustrate this point. 

MIAMI, FLA. 

Miami, Fla., derives its water supplies from 

ground water in the Biscayne aquifer-a highly 

permeable water-bearing limestone that 

underlies much of southern Fio~ida. The first 

wells were drilled into the Biscayne aquifer in 

1896 to supply water for the ne~·ly constructed 

Royal Palm Hotel and for the Miami Hotel, 

heralding the start of massive urbanization of 

the area. In 1900, the local water system served 

a population of 1 ,680; by 1925 the population 

had increased to 30,200. New V'ells, added in 

1907 to the existing location at Spring Garden, 

supplied municipal water at rate~ that lowered 

the water table until salt water encroached on 

the well field and forced its abandonment in the 

early 1920's, only 2 years afte.. pumps were 

added to obtain the necessary flow. 

In 1925, the Spring Gardens well field was 

abandoned, and new wells were drilled in the 

Hialeah-Miami Springs area. How1~ver, increased 

demand for water coupled wit}' the need to 

lower water levels for flood protection caused 

salt-water intrusion at this site, and stringent 

remedial measures have been nece-:osary to insure 

protection of this source. Only through 

concerted efforts at preventing ov~~rdrainage and 

controlling water levels through construction of 

salt-water barriers in drainage canals has further 

contamination of Miami's water supply been 

averted. 

Despite present conservati"ln measures, 

increased water use by an expanding population 

will undoubtedly cause further problems in 

water availability, in salt-water int'"usion, and in 

pollution. Population estimates by the Dade 
County Development Department, for example, 

predict an increase for the Miami area from 1 

million people in 1960 to 4 million people in 

1995. Daily water use is also expected to rise, 

from 145 gallons per person in 1960 to 220 

gallons per person in 1995. The per capita 

increase results from a projected expansion in 

industrial water use. The total increase in water 

use will require 1.4 bgd as compared with the 

present use of 230 mgd (million gallons per 

day). 

To supply this 1.4-bgd requirement in the 

future, Kohout and Hartwell (1967) estimate 

that the entire amount of rainfall over a 

500-square-mile area would need to be collected. 

They point out, however, that total rainfall is 

never available for man's use; in the Everglades, 

almost 80 percent of the rainfall is consumed by 

evapotranspiration. Therefore, if the remaining 

20 percent-lO'h inches per year-were 

diverted to the Miami well fields, it would 

require an area of 2,800 square miles to supply 

Dade County alone in 1995. This is an area as 

large as the entire Everglades from Lake 

Okeechobee to Cape Sable. 

The Miami case is an excellent example of a 

large metropolitan water system where careful 

planning has averted shortages and assured an 

adequate supply to meet future demands. The 

increased demands will probably be met by 

water management practices such as reduction 

of fresh-water discharge to the ocean via canals, 

by backpumping excess water to inland storage 

reservoirs, and by reuse of water. Water is a 

reusable resource, and advanced technology and 

enlightened water management should insure a 

continuing supply of fresh water in southern 

Florida. 

NEW YORK CITY 

The history of the New York City 

water-supply system presents a somewhat 

different situation. Whereas Miami has an 

abundant supply locally available, New York has 

had to go to great lengths-literally-to meet 

its demands. 

In its early years, New York's water was 

supplied by shallow wells and small reservoirs, 

all privately owned. None of these sources was 

satisfactory, and epidemics were frequent. By 

the 1820's it was clear that a public supply was 

needed, but there were no adequate res~rvoir 

sites nearby. New York's population was then 

approaching 300,000. A proposal to build a 

37-mile aqueduct to a reservoir site near Croton 

was first considered preposterous but gradually 

became accepted as a necessity. A cholera 

outbreak in 1832 killed 3,500 peoplr- and 

dramatized the necessity of a new supply, which 

was authorized in 1834. A disastrous fire in 

1835 further demonstrated the desperate need 

and construction was accelerated. The system 

was completed in 1842. 

At that time the · Croton Reservoir was no 

doubt regarded as the ultimate answer to New 

York's water needs. Within 20 years, howe.ver, it 

had to be enlarged. Several new reservoirs and a 

larger aqueduct were needed before the turn of 

the century. By then, all satisfactory sites in the 

Croton watershed had been exhausted, and the 

demand was fast catching up with the available 

supply. Clearly, new sources of supply would 

have to be sought. 

The Catskill Mountains, about 120 mile~ from 

New York, were chosen for the new reservoir 

sites. Construction began in 1907, an-i the 

system was completed in two stager: the 

Ashokan Reservoir was completed in 1917 and 

the Schoharie Reservoir, in 1928. Although 

addition of the Catskill system more than 

doubled the previous supply, the new supply 

was barely able to keep up with the rapidly 

increasing demand. By the late 1920's another 

water crisis was in sight. 

This time alternatives were considered. The 

Hudson River was ruled out because of its 

allegedly inferior quality. New Yorkers in~ist on 

drinking pure mountain water. The Adirondacks 

were eliminated because of the excessive 

distance. In 1928, then, it was deciced to 

expand the Catskill system and to develcp new 

reservoirs in the headwaters of the Delaware 

A3 
River basin. The Delaware River is an interstate 

stream, so the consent of New Jersey and 

Pennsylvania was needed to divert water from 

this basin. The issue was resolved after 

considerable litigation in 1931 by a decree of 

the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed New York 

to divert no more than 440 mgd from the 

Delaware River basin. First the depression, then 

World War II delaye~ construction. The first 

operational phase of the expansion consisted of 

an emergency diversion from Rondout Creek to 

the new Delaware aqueduct from 1944 to 1951. 

In the meantime, yet another crisis occurred. 

The postwar urbanization explosion strained the 

Crotor.. and Catskill systems almost to their 

limit. Average pumpage exceeded I bgd. 

Abundant rainfall deferred the day of reckoning 

until 1949, when reservoir levels dropped to the 

danger point. Stringent water conservation 

measures were enforced, and for the frrst time 

the Hudson River was tapped at Chelsea as an 

emergency source of supply. 

Rondout Reservoir, an expansion of the 

Catskill system, became operational late in 1950 

and the diversion from the Hudson was 

discontinued. Neversink and Pepacton 

Reservoirs, with their diversion appurtenances, 

began being used in 1953, but full use of the 

Delaware system was not achieved untill955. 

History repeats itself. The crisis of 1949 and 

the forecasts of the even greater population 

explosion to come made the water planners all 

too painfully aware that even the Delaware 

River basin supply system under construction 

would only temporarily satisfy the city's needs. 

An additional source would be needed. Thus, 

planning began for a new reservoir in the 

Delaware River basin. In 1954 the Supreme 

Court authorized New York to increase its 

diversion and in 19 55 construction started on 

the Cannonsville Reservoir. Planners estimated 

that, with this new addition, the system would 

have total capacity of I ,800 mgd, sufficient to 

meet demands through 1980. 

The record breaking drought of 1961-66 

occurred, however, before the Cannonsville 

A4 

Reservoir was completed. At one time the 

existing reservoirs were drawn down to 26 

percent of capacity (near the minimum safe 

drawdown for which the system was designed). 

The most stringent water-use C'lntrols in the 

city's history were put into effect, and the 

Chelsea pumping station on the Hudson River 

was rebuilt. By 1967 abundant rainfall eased the 

crisis, and the situation returned to "normal." 

But if history can be taken ~s aD!' guide, it will 

not be too long before New York is again faced 

with a water crisis. Indeed, planning has already 

started an alternative means of meeting 

expanded needs. 

The history of the New York water system 

has been one of continuing cris:~ in order to 

satisfy the demands of the population explosion. 

Yet part of the water demand mig"tt be regarded 

as unnecessary or artifical. Wasteful and 

inefficient use of water is encouraged by the 

absence of metering and unrec listie pricing. 

While the elaborate network of reservoirs and 

aqueducts has been built at gr~at cost, the 

Hudson River, which might suppl:· New York's 

needs many times over, has, like many other 

rivers, been allowed to degenerate in quality. 

' The State's Pure Water Program improvements 

show promise of effecting some regeneration. 

Planning decisions must be sensitive to 

economics, politics, and public rttitudes. The 

citizens of New York have becom~ conditioned 

to drinking "mountain water," ar1 any change 

in established practices of water supply would 

require a massive campaigr of public 

information and education. 

NORTHEAST DROUGHT OF 19( 1-66 

The recent drought in the Northeastern 

United States points out the regio~al impact of 

natural catastrophic events on water for urban 

areas. In September 1961 precipitation and 

water levels throughout the northe"stern part of 

the United States fell below nonral. Although 

unheralded at the time, it marked the beginning 

of a drought-the largest, longe~t, and most 

severe in the history of the Northeast United 

States. 
For over 5 years the drought persisted over a 

13-state area extending from Maine to North 

Carolina, an area of more than 400,000 square 

miles. Each year since 1962 there was a 

reduction in yields of crops and pasture lands 

and an increasing threat and occurrences of 

forest fires. The effects on public water supplies 

increased with the duration and intensity of the 

drought. The effect was cumulative from year to 

year as reserves were depleted and streamflow 

and ground-water levels dropped to record lows. 

During the early part of the drought, the effects 

were largely absorbed by the built in resiliency 

and planned reserves of the water supply 

systems. By the summer of 1965, though, about 

one public water system out of every eight 

found its reserves at critically low levels. 

Drought-related water shortages and problems 

in 1965 were severe enough to warrant 

emergency actions by federal, state, and 

local agencies In Maine, 21 supply systems 

restricted water use; more than 50 towns and 

cities in Massachusetts imposed restrictions; 14 

systems in New York faced water shortages; and 

northern New Jersey, with its interconnected 

water companies, was also seriously affected. At 

one time, storage in the New York City reservoir 

system was reduced to 124 billion gallons, only 

26 percent of maximum capacity, and the 

chloride concentration in the Delaware River at 

the Philadelphia water intake at Torresdale 

reached over 50 mg/1 (milligrams per liter), with 

the 250 mg/1 isochlor located only 8 miles 

downstream. At the height of the drought, the 

water-use habits of more than 20 million people 

were directly and drastically affected. 

Only concerted efforts at all levels enabled 

the region to continue to supply the water 

needs. Stringent conservation measures such as 

bans on use of water for air conditioning, car 

washing, and lawn sprinking were enacted. A 

"water bank" was established in the New York 

City reservoir system to retain the 200 mgd 

which normally would be released for flow 

augmentation in the Delaware River and permit 

greater flexibility in management of that system. 

Emergency actions were taken to rehabilitate 

the Torresdale water intake for Philadelphia. 

Many wells in the region, both individual and 

public supplies, "went dry" and had to be 

deepened, redeveloped, or replaced with wells of 

greater capacity. Here again, these well failures 

usually did not reflect insufficient sourc~s of 

supply, but rather inadequately planne1 or 

constructed wells. 

Despite the critical water shortages, it s1''1uld 

be emphasized that never during the drought 

was there an overall shortage of water in the 

region. During the entire. emergency there was 

only one outright failure of a· city 

water-supply-that of Lancaster, Pa. The 

shortage was rather one of facilities fc,. its 

collection, treatment, storage, and delivery to 

points of need. The execution of carefully 

prepared long-range plans can without c':mbt 

meet all water requirements of the Northeast for 

many years. 

OUTLOOK 

The experiences of Miami, New York, an1 the 

Northeast region point out the universal 

problem of municipal water supply: popul~tion 

growth has tended to outstrip developmert. In 

the past, many municipal water systems have 

operated on marginal conditions. Because cf the 

massive investments involved water ut:lities 

seldom manage to keep far enough ahead of our 

burgeoning population. 

These marginal operating conditions suddenly 

become critical when faced with catastophic 

events such as salt-water contamination of a well 

field or a series of near-dry reservoirs resulting 

from drought. This situation points more to lack 

of planning and development rather thzn to 

actual water shortages. Water is available for the 

cities, but the cities must plan effectively and in 

coordinated fashion if the requirements of all 

are to be met. 

Predicted demands for municipal water are 

expected to increase from 23.7 bgd in 1965 to 

74.3 bgd in 2020, an increase of 213 percent 

(Water Resources Council, 1968, p. 4-1-4). 

This demand will strain our ability to meet 

water requirements for the cities, but tho. job 

can and must be done. 

AS 
Planning will play a major role in insuring 

adequate water for the cities. Regional planning 

must supersede local-interest planning as cities 

are ever increasingly forced to expand their 

sources of supply. As these sources of supply 

overlap, jurisdictional disputes will undoubtedly 

develop. Regional planning must replace 

uncoordinated unilateral development if chaos is 

to be avoided. 

Moreover, the water-resources planners of the 

future will have to use considerably more 

imagination than has been evident in some of 

the plans of the past and the present if the job is 

to be done. Management of both the resource 

and its use may be necessary as the demand 

approaches the available supply. All alternative 

sources of supply should be considered in order 

to arrive at an optimal plan. For example, 

ground water could be used to supplement a 

surface reservoir or vice versa. The conjunctive 

use of surface and ground water should be 

considered; in many situations this may be the 

most efficient solution to the water-supply 

problem. Research is needed in advanced 

techniques of treatment that could convert 

marginal or unsatisfactory sources into usable 

sup plies. Desalination, as it becomes 

economically viable, must be considered as an 

alternative. 

The management of water use could be fully 

as important as the management of water 

supplies. It has already been demonstrated that 

water use can be substantially reduced by 

judicious management. Industrial water systems 

can be designed so that most of the water is 

reused. Saline water could be used in some 

instances for cooling, which accounts for a large 

part of industrial water use. 

Water-use management need not be confmed 

to industry, however. Municipal supplies can be 

made more efficient by systematic detection and 

A6 

repair of leaks in water mains. Mo1em plumbing 

fixtures generally use less water than outmoded 

ones. In this regard, building co~~s can require 

such fixtures in new construction. Water of less 

than drinking-water quality coul-t be used for 

some domestic purposes such as lawn watering 

and air conditioning. Realistic pricing would 

exert a strong influence on water-use habits. 

Public education and informati"ln campaigns 

might be necessary to gain widr.spread public 

acceptance of such changes in traditional 

water-use practices. 

The outlook for water for the cities then, can 

be regarded as cautiously optimist~~. Though the 

population explosion of the next half century 

will strain existing systems, the '"'ater demands 

for our cities can be met. To meet these 

demands, however, coordinated comprehensive 

planning that gives adequate cons:~deration to all 

viable alternatives must replr~e the crisis 

planning that has characterized much of the 

water-resources development of the past. 

SELECTED REFEREN~ES 

Kohout, F. A., and Hartwell, J. H., 1967, 

Hydrologic effects of Area B Flood Control 

on urbanization of Dade Co11nty, Florida: 

Florida Geol. Survey Rept. Inv. 4 7, 61 p. 

Martin, R. C., 1960, Water fo· New York: 

Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse University Press, 

264p. 

Mumford, Lewis, 1956, The natural history of 

urbanization, in Thomas, W. L., ed., Man's 

role in changing the face cf the Earth: 

Chicago, Ill., Univ. of Chicago Press, p. 

382-398. 

U.S. Water Resources Council, 1968, The 

nation's water resources-the fll'St national 

assessment of the Water Resources Council: 

Washington, D.C., U.S. Govt. Pinting Office, 

410 p. 

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1970 0 - 398-694