The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced the completion of a $13.3 million project to stabilize and strengthen two sections of shoreline at Kensico Reservoir in Westchester County that were eroded by high winds during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
The stabilization project focused on a total of 1,400 linear feet of shoreline at two locations near a water intake used to supply New York City’s drinking water. Eroding shorelines in those areas, especially during strong storm events, directly impacted the quality of the city’s water supply.
The Kensico shoreline stabilization project included the removal of vegetation and soil along the impacted shoreline and armoring those areas with riprap to protect from future scouring and erosion. Originally budgeted for $14.4 million, the project had finished over $1 million under budget.
“With the impacts of climate change and increasingly common storms in our region we are quickly executing on lessons learned about the importance of sound investments hardening and improving the resiliency of our critical infrastructure,” says DEP Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala. “I am extremely proud of our department’s efforts both in the upstate watershed and throughout the City’s five boroughs to better prepare for and withstand extreme weather events such as what we saw with Superstorm Sandy.”
