Cobbs Hill Reservoir

on a clear day, you can see downtown...

Our dog loves it when we drive him to the reservoir for a walk – he sits up when we make the turn up the hill and he whines impatiently until we let him out of the car. We love walking him there for many reasons: the paved walkway, which is plowed in winter; the low risk of deer ticks, relative to the parks; the waste bins, for proper disposal of...things that need to be disposed of; and of course, the view. On a clear day, you get not just the best view of the city of Rochester to the north, but also stunning vistas to the south, and the rolling hills hiding the Finger Lakes.

...and south to the Finger Lakes

I occasionally walk there with my friend Gwen, as well. Most people seem to walk the route counter-clockwise, but Gwen likes to shake things up and walk clockwise, so that we frequently meet people face to face, rather than passing or being passed. We encounter all sorts of people – young and old, walkers (with and without dogs) and joggers, friendly and unfriendly. But while Todd likes to be driven right up to the reservoir, Gwen likes to start out in the neighborhood below, and climb up the hill. One time she took me through a lovely neighborhood, where we met a resident who explained the cleanup effort that resulted in the now hike-able Washington Grove Park, a remnant forest. According to the information panels, “Washington Grove potentially holds the tallest and oldest individuals of white and black oak, sassafras, and butternut in New York State.”

yes, there are tiny people down there!

Cobbs Hill Reservoir was completed in 1908, and the plaque on-site explains that, “of unsurpassed quality, the water in this reservoir flows by gravity from lakes Hemlock and Canadice located 30 miles south.” The walking distance around the reservoir, measured specifically from the center of the walkway, is .69 miles. The reservoir recently underwent major maintenance, to clean the muck from the bottom and repair some of the pipes, so has been empty for months. I learned, from chatting with a couple of the engineers, that the reservoir holds 144 million gallons of water and covers 19 acres. While the water apparently is filtered at some point before it enters the reservoir, it goes straight out from there to our taps. There has been some discussion regarding additional filtering to improve water quality, although the reports we occasionally get from the Monroe Water Authority usually look pretty good. One engineer suggested that if the quality deteriorated, they would need to consider a giant pool cover!

the engineers discovered the water flowed better
if they didn't replace a section of corroded pipe

The water is flowing into the reservoir again, and it will take about a month to fill. When just over half full, they’ll start letting water back into our pipes. Here in Rochester, we seem to take our tap water for granted, because it is safe, abundant, and virtually free. I, for one, would be happy to compromise on the third to ensure the first two are never compromised…

beautiful sunset...

...and lampposts!