Above: New York City's Cannonsville Reservoir. Photo by Flickr user mountain_man_ny_2; published under Creative Commons license.
New York City's watershed police had a little extra duty over the Fourth of July weekend: Keeping four capsized boaters from sinking in a few million gallons of New York City's drinking water.
The four boaters went overboard in two separate incidents over the weekend: One on the Cannonsville on Friday evening, and another on the Rondout on Saturday morning.
The Cannonsville Reservoir incident was reported to 911 at 7:18pm, according to a New York City Department of Environmental Protection press release. One of the two men in the boat had slipped and fallen, capsizing the boat near the access ramp on Route 10 in Walton. By the time rescuers arrived, the two men were clinging to the side of the boat.
Thomas Reis of the DEP police, a rescue swimmer, swam out to the boaters and helped them stay afloat. The boaters were rescued with the aid of Trout Creek firefighters, who commandeered a rowboat, and Deposit firefighters Christopher Zacharias and Eric Dermitt, who launched an inflatable boat to bring the two men to shore. Trout Creek EMS personnel evaluated the boaters and found them unhurt.
The Rondout Reservoir incident was reported to 911 at 7:45am on Saturday, about 400 yards offshore near the handicap ramp on Route 55A. Two boaters had fallen into the water when they both shifted their weight to the same side of the boat, but one managed to climb back in the boat by the time rescuers arrived, and was holding onto the other boater. Both were rescued by DEP police, evaluated by Napanoch EMS personnel, and found to be unharmed.
Only in the last several years has recreational boating been allowed on New York City's reservoirs. So far, the city's watershed boating program is going well: Several local businesses have cropped up around the reservoirs to help tourists get out on the water, and the city's water quality hasn't been harmed by the program, a few unplanned dunks in the reservoir notwithstanding. For more on boating the lakes, creeks and reservoirs of the New York City watershed region, see the Watershed Post's Catskills boating guide.
