New York City Water Tunnel No. 3 Ventilation Towers

City Tunnel No. 3 has been under construction since 1970 (for more information see my other post about the tunnel).  Each shaft has a ventilation tower.  Originally, the sidewalk entry door for each shaft, (some as deep as 1000 feet), was labelled with the shaft number.  These were removed after 9/11/01.  But they can still located by their distinctive ventilation towers.  The towers are not identical, but have a consistent style.  Once you've seen these you should be able to recognize others.

Shaft 14b, New York

Shaft 19b, Brooklyn

Shaft 16b, Queens

Shaft 23b, Brooklyn

Shaft 11b, New York

Shaft 20b, Brooklyn

Jamaica Water Supply, Queens

Beginning in 1897, the Jamaica Water Supply provided drinking water to parts of Queens from a series of wells and water storage tanks.  After the city took over the system it was shut down in 2007, and people in southeastern Queens were connected to the city's main water supply.  Some of the wells were polluted, but in general the water was not the highest quality.  With repairs about to be made on one of the large upstate supply tunnels, NYCDEP plans to reactivate some of the wells. The wells are not secret, but they are difficult to find.  Using various city inventories and databases I was able to locate all of them.  Most are located on residential blocks, fenced in, with a few telltale structures, but completely unmarked.  Others are in the midst of other industrial sites.  These photographs were made in December 2014.