By Jennifer May-Reddy
New Yorkers are spoiled by pizza of the finest quality (and bagels for that matter too)!
What sets our pizza apart from the rest? I found myself thinking about this as I “split a pie” with my husband and three kids last weekend. One theory is that our stellar New York City tap water has something to do with it. I asked the owner of a local pizza joint and he told me that he does use water straight from the tap with no additional filters when making his fresh pizza dough every day.
So what role does clean water play in good pizza making? Former NYC Mayor Bloomberg used to refer to the City’s drinking water as the “champagne of water.” Our water comes from a combination of reservoirs and lakes in a watershed located just north and west of New York City. The water is regularly monitored and tested, but everyday residents like you and me can play a part in making sure the quality of our water remains high. The NYC Department of Environmental Protection’s web site states that, “Each person can help these systems run better by conserving water, disposing of garbage and household chemicals properly and being concerned about water quality in the City’s surrounding waters.”
So do your part New Yorkers! If our waters get polluted, any pollutants can carry downstream. And who wants to put the taste of our legendary pizza at risk? In addition to much more serious problems!
EPA is doing its part to protect the quality of our pizza by working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on an action to help safeguard our nation’s waters and public health. The initiative is called Waters of the US and you can learn more about it and comment on the proposal at www.epa.gov/uswaters.
So, the next time you bite into a delicious NY slice, remember the one-of-a-kind clean drinking water that helped make your pizza so yummy. Ciao!