U.S. Water News Online
NEW YORK -- Authorities beefed up patrols and surveillance at critical points in the city's water system after pipe bombs were found in a portion of the California Aqueduct.
"It's strictly a precautionary measure,"said Ian Michaels, a spokesman for the city's Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP is charged with protecting the vast water system that supplies the city's eight million residents.
Three pipe bombs were discovered near a valve in a portion of the California Aqueduct, which had been partially drained as part of a routine check for submerged objects.
The California Highway Patrol said if the bombs had been triggered, they could have opened the valve and released water. A bomb unit detonated them in a safe area.
It wasn't known if the bombs were placed in the aqueduct to intentionally disrupt California's water supplies, but Michaels said New York City wasn't taking any chances.
"A potential threat to a major water supply in other parts of the country gets our attention,"he said.
Michaels said the added security would last "indefinitely,"and DEP officers hadn't discovered anything suspicious.
The DEP has approximately 175 officers to protect the system, Michaels said.
New York City has the largest unfiltered surface water supply in the world. Every day, some 1.3 billions gallons of water from this vast system is delivered to residents, according to the DEP's Web site.
The New York City Water Supply System includes a watershed of 1,969 square miles across eight counties north and west of the city, the site says.
Approximately 95 percent of the total water supply is delivered by gravity.
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