How many of us have seen a Drinking Water Sampling Station on the sidewalks in Manhattan? How many stopped to figure out what it was all about?
DEP's water quality sampling stations were installed to enhance our water quality monitoring program and to comply with federal and state drinking water regulations.
The stations provide a uniform and sanitary sampling environment that has improved the efficiency of water sampling efforts, and thereby help protect public health.
DEP collects more than 1,200 water samples per month from up to 546 locations. Water samples are analyzed for bacteria, chlorine levels, pH, inorganic and organic pollutants, turbidity, odor, and many other water quality indicators.
A total of 965 sampling stations have been installed citywide. Sampling from the stations began in March of 1997.
Locations for the stations were chosen based on the need to gather representative samples of the water quality in all distribution areas. Consequently, factors such as population density, water pressure zones, proximity to water mains, and accessibility were considered.
The stations rise about 4 1/2 feet above the ground and are made of heavy cast iron. Inside, a 3/4 inch copper tube feeds water from a nearby water main into the station. Each station is equipped with a spigot from which water samples are taken. The total cost of the construction and installation of the stations was approximately 11 million dollars.
THEY ARE VERY NOTICEABLE, YET GO LARGELY UNNOTICED.
Info from http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/sampling.shtml
[By the way, the coordinates I took were clearly off due to City Bounce. I did my best to figure out appropriate coords from my recollection and from Google Maps. Hopefully, I'm not way off. It's definitely on a water sampling station a bit to the east of 6th avenue and 53rd. If you get better coords, please post them.]