8. A Formerly Abandoned Queens Reservoir is Now Part of a Park
From 1858 until 1990, parts of Brooklyn received water from the now-decommissioned Ridgewood Reservoir. This reservoir was fed by small streams on Long Island. Located on the southeastern corner of Ridgewood, Queens, the reservoir distributed over 45 million gallons of water per day. After being decommissioned in 1990, the site sat largely untouched. Management of the site was transferred to the parks department in 2004. Today, the reservoir is part of Highland Park, a designated freshwater wetland.
