Food And Water In New York City
New York City government officials, labor organizers, non-profits, community advocacy groups, and residents have fostered a strong relationship with rural farmers to develop New York City's Local food shed. The process of linking sustainable, rural agriculture with New York City’s urban markets has been largely built upon the fact that New York City's water supply comes from New York State, in the protected Catskill Mountains watershed. As a result of the watershed's integrity and undisturbed natural water filtration process, New York is one of only five major cities in the United States with drinking water pure enough not to require purification by water treatment plants.
With the largest surface storage and supply complex in the world, New York City's water supply system yields 1.2 billion US gallons (4,500,000 m3) of water daily, with most of this water originating upstate. This water is not filtered, since a filtration system would require $6 billion dollars in construction, and $300 million in annual maintenance. Instead, New York City's watershed is protected by severe New York City Department of Environmental Protection restrictions that prevent pathogens and nutrients from entering the water supply. These restrictions limit industrial development and restrict agricultural runoff. The implementation of such stringent regulations, however, threatened New York State farmers with utter devastation.
To protect the water supply from runoff and promote regional agriculture, rural and urban New Yorkers developed an alliance called the New York City Watershed Whole Farm Program, which promotes sustainable agriculture in New York State. Farmers upstate, with financial assistance from the city, work to reduce pathogen, nutrient, sediment, and pesticide runoff. Meanwhile, New York City’s urban population serves as a local market for upstate farmers, particularly through Greenmarket Farmers' markets, founded in 1976 by the Council on the Environment of New York City.
The program provides regional small family farmers with opportunities to sell their fruits, vegetables and other farm products at open-air markets in the city. The most famous is the Union Square Greenmarket, held Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays between 8 AM and 6 PM year round. 250,000 customers a week purchase 1,000 varieties of fruits and vegetables at the market.
Read more about Food And Water In New York City: International Model, Supermarket Crisis, Green Carts, School Lunches
Famous quotes containing the words york city, food and, food, water, york and/or city:
“The energy, the brutality, the scale, the contrast, the tension, the rapid change—and the permanent congestion—are what the New Yorker misses when he leaves the city.”
—In New York City, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“We can come up with a working definition of life, which is what we did for the Viking mission to Mars. We said we could think in terms of a large molecule made up of carbon compounds that can replicate, or make copies of itself, and metabolize food and energy. So that’s the thought: macrocolecule, metabolism, replication.”
—Cyril Ponnamperuma (b. 1923)
“Odors from decaying food wafting through the air when the door is opened, colorful mold growing between a wet gym uniform and the damp carpet underneath, and the complete supply of bath towels scattered throughout the bedroom can become wonderful opportunities to help your teenager learn once again that the art of living in a community requires compromise, negotiation, and consensus.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)
“A little water clears us of this deed.
How easy is it then!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“New York is more now than the sum of its people and buildings. It makes sense only as a mechanical intelligence, a transporter system for the daily absorbing and nightly redeploying of the human multitudes whose services it requires.”
—Peter Conrad (b. 1948)
“Paradoxically, the freedom of Paris is associated with a persistent belief that nothing ever changes. Paris, they say, is the city that changes least. After an absence of twenty or thirty years, one still recognizes it.”
—Marguerite Duras (b. 1914)