FOCAAdmin's blog

The Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct produced a print newsletter from 1998 to 2017. In the interests of preserving this resource and making it available to others, all issues are now posted on the Friends’ website, together with a Contents for each and a link to download the full PDF of individual issues.

Our friends NYC H2O have partnered with the Watershed Agricultural Council in upstate NY to create a new series of StoryMaps: Agriculture and Water Quality. The Watershed Agricultural Council works with farmers to develop strategies that prevent agricultural runoff from flowing into our reservoirs. This partnership protects our city's water supply while also providing incentives and support to farmers.

We had over 200 attendees at our Zoom presentation on March 3rd!

Friend of the Old Croton Aqueduct and active walker Mark Garrahan received this book as a present for Christmas last year and brought it to our attention.

Published in 1923 by the American Geographic Society (not to be confused with the National Geographic Society which published the famed yellow-bordered magazine), it contains beautiful sketches and fascinating maps.

We were able to scan pages of interest to the Friends.

Thanks, Mark. Enjoy!

With the reopening of the Highbridge Step Street (located at 170th x University Avenue in The Bronx at Highbridge Park) on December 14, 2021, a trifecta of restoration of historic Old Croton Aqueduct structures has been achieved.

Guest post by Friends David and Susan Rosenzweig

On October 27, 2021, we drove to the Croton Gorge to view the dam. Considering the very heavy rain we had over the prior two days, we expected a voluminous amount of water going over the dam.

Our guess was correct!

About a quarter of a mile before we reached the dam, we could hear a thundrous noise. As we approached the bridge, the noise of rushing water was very loud and the spray was like rain.

Note the small tree on the dam's spillway.

Friends Board Members and Advisors Charlotte Fahn, Lesley Yu Walter, President Mavis Cain, Joanna Reisman and Sara Kelsey attended the grand reopening of the High Bridge Tower on October 27, 2021.

The tower had been sealed shut for years and sheathed in scaffolding for part of the time. Now that it's open, guided tours to the top will resume. The New York Daily News called it "a soaring 200-foot 1872 structure that was essential in New York’s rise to global stature."

The Friends' own Tom Tarnowsky presented a lecture on Zoom for the Yonkers Public Library in association with The Yonkers Historical Society on the history of the Old Croton Aqueduct and its relation to Yonkers. Enjoy!

A delightful article about the Old Croton Aqueduct, its history and current status can be found on the website called Messy Nessy Chic.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

Friends Board member Thomas Tarnowsky tooks this stunning video of the Croton Dam spillway a day after Hurricane Ida dropped a record amount of rain on our region.