Levine Reservoir Water Tanks
PVWC operates three open-air water reservoirs, where water is stored after it’s been treated but before its delivered to customers. Open reservoirs can allow contaminants to re-enter the water from rain, storm-water run-off, ducks, geese and other wildlife. Open reservoirs also prevent the use of treatments that could reduce the risk of lead in your drinking water. That’s why we’re closing the 20-million gallon Levine Reservoir and replacing it with secure enclosed water tanks. This $40 million, federally mandated project is anticipated to break ground this year.
Our Levine Reservoir Water Tank project will construct two 2.5 million gallon (MG) pre-stressed concrete tanks within the existing footprint of the Levine Reservoir on Grand Street in Paterson, NJ.
These tanks are designed to enhance water storage quality for our customers and helps PVWC achieve the goal of LT2 compliance. The new tanks will be constructed in the northern half of the existing reservoir and stand approximately 28 feet above the current ground level, or about half as tall as the trees surrounding the reservoir.
Once the tanks are completed and in service, the southern half of the reservoir will be decommissioned and turned into a detention basin to facilitate the drainage of storm water in the area. PVWC plans to rehabilitate the landscape around the site to include a mix of native plantings and greenery.
Follow this page to keep up-to-date with project information and the construction timeline.
Questions about the project
Do you have a question about the Levine Reservoir project? We will get to them with our most up to date information as soon as we can!
History of the Levine Reservoir
The Stanley M. Levine Reservoir, originally known as the Stony Road Reservoir, was completed in 1886 by the Passaic Water Company. It was the fourth and last of the company’s reservoirs built to store potable water pumped from the Great Falls.
Starting in 1885, construction crews working for the Passaic Water Company blasted into the basalt ridge to create a 20-foot-deep basin. Rocks were shaped into blocks to form a heavy wall still visible along Grand Street damming the reservoir’s southern end. When complete, water flowed through a pipe network from the Great Falls, across the arch bridge spanning the Falls’ chasm, and to a pump station on Grand Street, which filled the reservoir and pumped water to surrounding neighborhoods.
The 20-million-gallon reservoir provided Paterson with clean water for nearly 40 years but the Passaic Water Company decommissioned the reservoir in 1921, leaving the basin dry for over a decade. In 1927, the municipalities of Clifton, Passaic and Paterson organized the PVWC, which took over the empty Grand Street Reservoir and reactivated it in 1933. The reservoir’s inlet and outlet chambers were reconfigured and the reservoir refilled with treated water from the Little Falls filtration plant.
Levine Reservoir Location
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