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The Hillview Reservoir is a 90-acre water storage facility that distributes drinking water to both New York City and Yonkers.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) has signed an $848 million deal with a joint venture to construct the Hillview Reservoir Chemical Addition Facilities project in the city of Yonkers, just north of Manhattan.
The consortium includes Swedish construction giant Skanska, which will receive $630 million of the contract, and Yonkers-based ECCO III Enterprises Inc., a leading heavy civil building contractor serving the New York Metro area.
The Hillview Reservoir is a 90-acre water storage facility that distributes drinking water to both New York City and Yonkers.
With a capacity of 900 million gallons, the concrete-lined reservoir is slated to be covered completely by 2050, a result of a March 2019 decision by the NYCDEP and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to comply with the Safe Water Drinking Act, the Yonkers Ledger reported in 2023.
The joint venture’s objective at Hillview is to update and modernize the reservoir’s facilities to comply with new regulatory requirements, while ensuring the safety of its nearby residential communities, according to a description by ECCO III.
Work at the site began in August to make numerous enhancements to the reservoir, including improvements to flow control, increases to its chemical storage capacity, the establishment of new chemical addition facilities (CAF) and monitoring systems on Hillview’s north and south sections, and the implementation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for controlling, monitoring and analyzing industrial devices and processes.
Additionally, upgrades are being made to Hillview’s electrical infrastructure, along with innovative flow measurement systems, and a renovation of the reservoir’s existing North Entrance.
Skanska and ECCO III also are due to construct new roadways to enhance accessibility to the facility, as well as decommission and raze obsolete structures onsite to pave the way for modern structures.
The construction of new CAF buildings involves extensive excavation support, including the incorporation of techniques such as secant piles, soldier piles and lagging, tie backs, as well as substantial earthwork, concrete work, architectural furnishings and finishes, plumbing and mechanical and electrical work.
Essential function of the facility will be maintained for the water supply during construction for the surrounding community.
In a Sept. 23 news release, Skanska said, “The project will pursue LEED v4.1 certification and employ environmentally conscious building practice requirements related to energy conservation and efficiency, indoor air quality, and resource efficiency.”
Work is expected to be complete in April 2030. The NYCDEP estimates that up to 450 construction jobs will be created by the initiative.
Reservoir’s Upgrades Identified as An Agency Need
The Yonkers Ledger noted last year that the NYCDEP was “eager to move forward with the first phase of their $2 billion plan to improve” the Hillview Reservoir.
Matthew Valade, the regional water practice group leader at Hazen and Sawyer, a New York engineering firm specializing in water projects, confirmed that the reservoir provides drinking water for up to 100 percent of New York City, as well as 50 percent of Yonkers’ water supply.
“The Hillview Reservoir facilities control the incoming flows from the upstate water supply reservoirs and manage water pressure entering the water distribution system,” he explained. “The chemical systems at Hillview … provide the last point of chemical treatment for a majority of the water supply before [entering] New York City’s drinking water distribution system.”
Built between 1909 and 1917, the Yonkers reservoir is unique in New York State for its location adjacent to residential communities. While most of the other similar facilities within New York’s watershed are located in rural areas, upgrades are being made to ensure the safety of the surrounding communities and continued use of Hillview as a major source of drinking water.
Following an environmental review of the improvement project, NYDEP also engaged with Yonkers residents in a series of town hall discussions where it was revealed that the Hillview Reservoir overhaul would not have a significant negative impact on its surrounding environment.
John Milgrim, the director of outreach for the NYCDEP water supply system, told the Ledger in 2023 that he was optimistic about the positive impact to the Yonkers community that will result from the reservoir’s improvements.
“We worked with the community intensively [and] listened to their concerns,” he said. “We believe that we have addressed the vast majority of their concerns in a positive way with providing green space they can use throughout, continue to allow them to use space that is New York City property that abuts to their backyards, [and] to ensure [they] have somebody that they can reach out to who is in a decision-making capacity … pretty much any day of the week.”
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