27 June 1842, a date no one has ever celebrated, marked the real birth of modern New York City. On that date, people passing a new 150m-gallon reservoir that stretched from Sixth to Seventh Avenue and between 79th and 86th Streets suddenly noticed it was filling up with water. The flood had traveled 34 miles, from Westchester county.
The Lenape, the original residents of Manhattan, survived for thousands of years on water from streams and ponds. But their Dutch and British successors polluted all those sources and the ground water too. By the beginning of the 19th century, New Yorkers were adding brandy or gin to every glass of water – as a disinfectant.
