Imagine that you are about to embark on a fantastic journey that may last longer than a year, cover over 100 miles, begin in the mountains and end in the city, and consist of many tosses and turns, kind of like a roller-coaster. In this story, it is a cold January up here in the Catskill Mountains and you are a snowflake on this particular cold, winter day.

Picture yourself, the snowflake, drifting along in a storm cloud several thousand feet above the Catskills. As other snowflakes keep cramming into your cloud, it becomes completely full of little snowflakes, and it begins to snow. You are one of the first to be released, and as you begin your journey, you can see all of the mountain tops, and as you get closer to the earth, you begin to see the streams and ponds. You are so close now that you can see houses and people, and eventually you can pick out the ______________________ School. You are heading right for it! Splat! You hit and stick to the side of the school. Unfortunately not enough other snowflakes fell this morning, so school was not canceled. Good thing you are a snowflake and not a student. Since the storm did not last very long, the sun comes out from behind the clouds.

The sun really warms you up quickly, and eventually, you melt into a liquid. Now that you are liquid, you begin to run down the side of the school, following every crack you encounter, until you reach the ground. The snow that once covered the lawn has also melted and is now liquid as well. But wait! You are now being forced by gravity along the ground, down a slope. As you twist and turn through the grass and over the rocks, you pick up tiny pieces of soil and carry them with you. You can't stop from rolling along down the hill no matter how hard you try. All of a sudden, the ground ends! Yikes! Splash! You just fell into the small stream outside of the school.

Due to all of the melting snowflakes, the stream is running a little faster than usual. The current is bouncing you off, around, and over rocks and twigs. You notice that the stream is getting wider and wider as you travel, until you make it all the way to the __________________ River/Creek. Here you begin to pick up even more speed. You travel under bridges, around big bends, next to a family of deer that have stopped by for a drink, and alongside several really big fish that almost inhale you through their gills.

Aah! You have just been dumped by the stream into a large open lake and you notice that you are hardly moving anymore. You realize that you are now in the _____________ Reservoir. There are billions of gallons of other water surrounding you. During your stay here, you see boats with people trout fishing, and large birds, maybe eagles or ospreys, that swoop down to the water and catch fish from time to time. After gently making your way across the reservoir for many weeks, or even months, you see a huge opening.

Note: If you were in the Ashokan or the Rondout Reservoir, skip the next two paragraphs.

This hole must be over 8 feet wide and made out of cement. This must be the beginning of the ________________ Tunnel. Whoosh! You have been sucked into the tunnel, which is completely filled with water and very dark. You tumble and fall downhill in the tunnel for a long time. You then begin to see some light way up ahead in the distance.

As you get closer and closer, it seems like it might be another reservoir. It's the Ashokan / Rondout (circle one) Reservoir. You realize that all of the water from this side of the Catskills is mixing together in here. You figure that it will be a couple more months before you reach the far end of this reservoir. Finally, you see another large opening, and guess what!

Note: Everyone should read from here on.

Zoom! You are pulled into the opening, which must be 15 or more feet tall. This huge tunnel is the Catskill / Delaware (circle one) Aqueduct. This aqueduct will carry you for 80 miles or more. Near the end of the tunnel, you begin to fall faster and faster. Splash! You hit the bottom of your fall, some 1,100 feet below sea level. You are now underneath the Hudson River. Your space gets smaller and smaller because of the weight of all the water above you. You feel you are getting pushed from behind. Since you are getting pushed, you start pushing the water in front of you until you come back up again, on the other side of the Hudson River.

Yippee! You begin to flow downhill once again. The tunnel starts to get brighter and brighter as you flow. Up ahead there is another reservoir. Aah! You have almost come to a complete stop now that you are part of the Kensico / West Branch Reservoir (circle one). You notice that this one is much smaller than the last reservoir. Here you mix not only with water from the Catskills, but also water from the local watershed. This is a balancing reservoir where you'll stay for only a short time, so Whoosh! On to the next tunnel you go.

Splash! You are now in another reservoir. This is a distribution reservoir so it is very small. Zoom! After spending a short time in there, you are pulled into yet another dark tunnel. This tunnel leads right down into New York City. Along your journey, you notice that the tunnels keep getting smaller, and this tunnel isn't really a tunnel at all. It is only about 20 inches across, because it is a water main. You are now only four feet below the streets, and if you are quiet enough, you can hear people talking and traffic moving.

You've heard stories about the pipes in New York City, like the one you are in now. There are over 2 million feet of these pipes, and close to 30 million feet of even smaller ones. Then, you hear a faint sound, almost like a siren. It gets louder and louder as each second passes. It is a siren blasting from a fire truck. You hear the truck stop overhead and people begin yelling instructions to one another. You hear a connection being made between a fire hose and the hydrant. A fireman shouts "All ready on this end" and then another replies "Turn the water on". Swiftly you are sucked up into one of the 99,000 hydrants in New York City. You are spinning around and around so quickly you don't even know where you are anymore.

Whoosh! The next thing you know, you are shot through the air with incredible force. As you travel, you look down and see all of the people that live in the burning building. They are very worried about their home -- you can see that on their faces. You feel yourself getting hotter and hotter as you approach the flames.

You now know the purpose of this incredible journey. After falling thousands of feet, climbing back up a thousand feet, falling even further, splashing into numerous reservoirs, bouncing around off rocks and twigs and grass, and traveling over 100 miles, you have finally reached your destination. You, and the other molecules of water with you, started out either in the Catskill Mountains or in the watersheds east of the Hudson River. Some drops will end up as drinking water, and some, like you, will be needed for other important uses. Your journey may have seemed like a great deal of work, but the people who live in the burning building really appreciate the effort it took for you to arrive here in New York City and save their home.

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