[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/t...ch1UOkF9DqaUXN

Thirst thing's first on dry Governors Island



H 2 WOE: The city is launching a $4.5 million project to route drinking water to Governors Island.


By RICH CALDER
April 26, 2010

There's water, water everywhere you look out from scenic Governors Island -- just not a drop to drink when you get there.

And that's a drought the Bloomberg administration hopes to end soon, since it wants to turn the former military base into a world-class tourist destination.

Officials overseeing the 172-acre, long-dormant jewel in New York Harbor say they're planning to launch a $4.5 million project they hope will provide the island with its own drinkable-water system.

The goal, they said, is to reline and restore a water main, running under the Buttermilk Channel from Brooklyn, that hasn't been used since the 1950s. A yet-to-be-chosen infrastructure contractor would use divers for the job.

Robert Pirani, executive director of the civic group Governors Island Alliance, said the project was crucial to the island's realizing its full potential and praised the mayor for stepping up.

"Like any other part of the city, you should be able to get free drinking water on Governors Island," he said.

The city has agreed to take full control of the island from the state, making its redevelopment a potential legacy project for Mayor Bloomberg, along with others, like the revival of Coney Island.

The mayor wants to bring a waterfront park to Governors Island, restore historic structures on the north end and eventually attract commercial tenants, including restaurants, which obviously need pure water for cooking.

In the meantime, the island later this year will get its first-full time tenant since the US Coast Guard left in 1997 when New York Harbor School in Brooklyn relocates there. Students will have their drinking water ferried in by a potable bulk water service.

Bottled water is already ferried over for island workers, and tourists during the popular summer season are told to bring their own or fork over a buck or two to island vendors to buy some.

A sign near a water fountain at Battery Marine Terminal in Lower Manhattan tells visitors it's "the last opportunity for free drinking water" before hopping on the Governors Island ferry.

The island's functioning water main now runs through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and previously provided potable water for Coast Guard personnel.

The military operated its own island water-filtration system, but the water was eventually deemed unsafe to drink by the state and city after both jointly bought the island from the feds for $1 in 2003. Water running to the island through the tunnel pipeline, although not drinkable, is still used for island restrooms and emergency services.

If the water main under Buttermilk Channel can't be fixed, the city would then have to consider building a new one.

Geoffrey Croft, of the nonprofit New York City Park Advocates, said the city shouldn't go forward with its $200 million island park plan without a potable water system.

"What's a park without water fountains?" Croft asked.