By Gus Saltonstall
A significant water main replacement project is beginning to get underway on a multi-block stretch of the Upper West Side.
The city is replacing 2,700 feet of 12-inch cast-iron water main pipes that date back to the 1870s, from West 81st to 85th streets, along Central Park West, as well as on West 83rd and 84th streets, between Central Park West and Columbus.
The old pipes will be replaced by 12-inch ductile iron pipes lined with concrete, which is a more modern, durable, and sustainable material for water mains.
The project was initiated and funded by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and will be carried out by the city’s Department of Construction and Design [DDC].
The project, which is scheduled to be completed by June 2028, will “improve water service reliability in the area,” according to a spokesperson from the Department of Construction and Design. The timeline on the project is more extended than usual because the city anticipates “interference with other utilities that have been installed above or near these pipes over the last hundred-plus years,” the spokesperson added.
Additionally, there will be necessary water shutoffs during the project for buildings along the affected blocks between West 81st and 85th streets, according to the city. Typically, a four-day notice will be given before any water shutdown takes place.
There is a field office for the project on West 84th Street, near the corner of Amsterdam, and the job has a Community Construction Liaison who has begun to do door-to-door outreach in the area to notify residents about the work. He will also be responsible for arranging water shutdowns on the days that it is required, and during his outreach, will be determining if any residents have special needs relating to the periods where the water will be turned off, according to the DDC.
It is unclear how frequent the periods without water will be.
You can reach the liaison, Lucien Allen, with any questions at centralparkwestccl@gmail.com.
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I would really like to know how far the affected area will actually go. For example, if water is turned off on 84th Street, will it ONLY be turned off between CPW and Col, or will it be turned off for the entirety of 84th Street, from CPW to RSD?
Since no indication is given, and the general public doesn’t know how “far” a given pipe may extend, I think this is a legitimate question.
Maybe you should email the person whose job it is to answer those questions and whose contact info is provided in the story.
A very legitimate question. I’m surprised that the City did not offer this important information at the start.
Odd, too, that the City’s “liaison” to the public for this project has a personal GMail address, not an address either at the City or one of the contractors — ??
Three years to fix???!
Carneige Hall was built in 13 months and this is taking 3 years🤷
The complexity of what is underground (gas, water, sewer, electric, phone, fiber) is no joke. I saw what was underneath when they were doing this downtown and it was impressive. This is less construction than it is archeology and puzzle solving.
Building from scratch and fixing existing are very different and the latter is much more complicated.
Faster than the 2nd Avenue subway!
A good follow up story would be to ask the department to list the addresses of the affected buildings, and an estimated timeline for each block.
A fire department and post office are on W. 83rd Street.
Oops! Sorry (and thank goodness!) wrong block!
NYC DDC is scheduled to make a presentation on the planned work at the March meeting of Community Board 7’s Transportation Committee, Tuesday, March 10. The meeting starts at 6:30 pm. Check CB7’s calendar for updates. https://www.mcb7.org/
I live in the crosshairs of this project. For several weeks, beginning in December, my tap water tasted so bad I started buying it by the half-gallon. What my discerning palate had detected as notes of dirt, I now suspect, was probably just essence of rusty pipe of an 1870’s vintage.
CPW is lucky that you had communication about what is coming. The same department, Construction and Design, started working on our corner, 112th and Riverside about a month ago, but they had blocked off half of 112th between Riverside and Broadway with large logs for several months before they did any work in order to keep people from parking. When they started working, I asked one of the workers if he knew how long the work would go on. He told me that this was a Con Ed job, and I should ask the Con Ed person who was parked on the service road between 111th and 112th if he knew. In fact, they had not told the truth and the Con Ed rep told me that it was a city job, and he was only there in case they hit a gas main. Whenever they do work, they block off the service road from 110th street, not just 112th street.
Grouse all you want, but if you lived in the Lincoln Square area when that huge water main break occurred (which resulted in Best Buy leaving and NY Institute of Technology is *still* renovating its theater), you’ll now that replacing 19th century water mains is an urgent task. I’m so glad the city is taking preventative measures to avoid more destructive water main breaks in the future.
Oh, is that why Best Buy left? Didn’t know that.
Agree; I also wonder when they will get around to less-wealthy neighborhoods and boroughs. Can several major antiquated water mains be replaced simultaneously?
Anyone know if this work caused the reroute of B and C trains to express yesterday afternoon? The transit app said “water condition at 81st Street”.
You should see the mess on Riverside Drive. Starting at dawn that snowy Sunday (1/25/26), a water main break under an Oak tree near the NE corner of 86th & Riverside was quickly brought under control. The DEP piled 3 dump-truck loads of soil to temporarily stabilize the subsumed tree & treewell, and early Monday the parks department arrived to cut down the mature tree (sad). Then the DEP arrived to dig up the area for nearly a week, replacing the pipe and temporarily patching the cement sidewalk with blacktop.
On 2/4/26, ConEd showed up to address an emergency electrical problem and commenced a 24-hour-straight trench dig running the length of the entire block (86-87). It was fun at 1a.m. to hear a backhoe digging up blacktop and dumping it in a huge truck. The urgency behind 24-hr work was apparently the upcoming sub-zero weekend temps., and indeed work was wrapped up with the placement of steel plates over the trench by 2/6 . Every time the M5 goes over the loose-fitting plates, it sounds like a small series of bombs going off.
Then on 2/9, ConEd worked round-the-clock to continue the trench from the south side of 86th to 85th. Today, 2/10, they have dug a linking trench connecting the two trenches running north and south from the intersection with 86th..
We can get no information from the city or ConEd about how long this will be going on, or what it’s even for. We’ve been advised to call 311 with noise complaints. You can imaging how productive that has been.
WSR–I’ve seen a lot of water main work on the UWS since the Arctic temps settled in. I wonder if you could investigate if that is, in fact, what’s happening?
I wonder how this will affect the B/C lines. Also, while I don’t know why this is expected to take 3 years, I can appreciate the complexity of what’s going on under the streets in that whole area, and perhaps the need to do some parts of it gradually? Also, it doesn’t quite say for HOW LONG any water shut downs will be. Hours? Days? Weeks? I think that community meeting in March better have some more concrete answers … I’m not in that directly affected area, but I think this gives us all a taste of what’s to come for us, given how much old stuff is under everything here.
In addition to all the apartment buildings, there’s a fairly large Jewish Reform Temple and school (Rodeph Shalom) facing 83rd about 1/4 of the way down to Columbus, and extending to 84th. Hopefully someone’s working out a cross connect to bring it water from the 84th street side. Especially considering the sprinkler system…