NEW YORK, NY June 16, 2001 — Sixty three miles of tunnel, carrying more than a billion gallons of water each day for all five boroughs. But despite warnings that the city’s two existing tunnels are aging, and can’t keep up with growing demands, the third water tunnel is still a long way from being completed. As one of our reports this election year about issues facing the next mayor, WNYC’s Beth Fertig investigates what’s taking so long.

(photo credit: "Tunnel No. 3, photo from "Invisible New York," Stanley Greenberg, Johns Hopkins University Press (1998)")

• Listen in Real Audio
• What the Mayoral Candidates Say
• What the city says
• DEP website feature about the third tunnel