NEW YORK – Upgrades to the connections to the New Croton Aqueduct for the villages of Briarcliff Manor, Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow have been completed.

The aqueduct serves as a backup water supply for those villages and the rehabilitation of the shafts and repairs to the pumps increase the reliability in those backup systems, primarily with any construction related or other shutdowns to their primary water source, the Catskill Aqueduct.

Some 822,000 Westchester County residents use New York City water.

Construction on the upgraded connections began in May 2009 and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection contributed $1.1 million toward labor costs of the repairs to the shafts and pump equipment and connecting the towns. Some funding was contributed by the villages.

“The work that was completed gives out water supply system more reliability and it will help the communities in times when we need to shut down the Catskill Aqueduct, such as later this year when a portion of aqueduct will be shut down following completion of the $1.6 billion Ultraviolet Disinfection Facility,” said Commissioner Carter Strickland.