The Plan - Tanks

The Levine Reservoir will be taken out of service and replaced with water storage tanks. A portion of the reservoir will be preserved as a pond, surrounded with trees and other indigenous plantings. About the tanks Two pre-stressed concrete tanks will be constructed on the site. Each tank will hold 5 million gallons of water or about half of the amount of water currently held by the reservoir. They'll be installed as far away from Grand Street and at the lowest point possible in the existing reservoir basin, so as to reduce their height above the current ground level. Each tank will stand about 28 feet above the current ground level of the reservoir, or about half as tall as the trees that surround the reservoir.

About the Pond

The portion of the existing reservoir that is closest to Grand Avenue will be converted to a pond. The rocky shoals will remain unchanged.

Even though the Levine Reservoir was never connected to the water raceways that supplied Paterson's factories, a feasibility study is now being planned to determine if there's a way to share water from the pond with the upper raceway.

The pond, like the existing reservoir, will be a man-made body of water. This means that water will need to be pumped into the pond. Without that, the pond would simply dry up. Also like the existing reservoir, the pond is not open to the public for safety and security reasons. The pond may be visible from the adjacent Reservoir Road properties.

About the Plantings

The banks at the south end of the pond will be planted with native flowers and plants. The goal is to create a sustainable habitat in a naturalized landscape.