A River and Its Water: Reclaiming the Commons - Part 26

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26th of a series

Readers respond.

“The destruction of my own paradise is what made me think we need a revolution.”

- Konglian Yu

  1. “Just as WWII was upramping, my father was part of a navy team that had been created in response to the capture of Nazi intruders crossing into upstate New York, supported by Nazi sympathizers in New York City. It was well known in the intelligence community that the city drew untreated water from upstate reservoirs that were essentially unguarded and thus could be poisoned by Axis saboteurs. My father’s team tried to calculate how much of the metro population would die if the first knowledge of poisoning didn’t come until its fatal effects were already in the city.

    “The consequences, it emerged, would be beyond catastrophic: simply alerting city residents NOT to use tap water or fountains far exceeded the city’s capabilities. Panic would be inevitable as millions tried to flee to wherever water was safe, overwhelming nearby cities and towns.

    “This was a very sobering study which, of course, was buried: too much info for German attack planners; too much fright for city dwellers; too much exposure of incompetent elected officials; and far too much cost to fix the problem.”

    Note: Stroud Center scientists were completing the first year of their six-year New York study when, without warning, the entire watershed was suddenly locked down, and everyone was kicked out. It was September 11, 2001.

  2. Dev Devereux, who is also an architect, sent me this fascinating 4.5-minute video on the Chinese architect Konglian Yu, designer of “Sponge Cities:” https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzbonkWsHPO/