Potable Water Restored On Governors Island As Upgrades Continue

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- No longer will visitors to Governors Island have to come with bottled water in hand.

Potable water has been restored on the former military installation, as the Trust for Governors Island works to redevelop the island into an open public space.

Drinking fountains have been set up in the park land on the island, and the trust is giving away 200 free water bottles at noon on Saturday at the fountains in Liggett Terrace and near Yankee Pier.

"New Yorkers say Governors Island is like a vacation without ever leaving the City," Leslie Koch, president of The trust for Governors Island, said in a news release. "Now you can enjoy the Island even more. Fill up your own water bottle at our new water fountains and spend the day enjoying a bike ride, art exhibit, dance performance or picnic on the Island. With the water bottle refilling station feature, you are helping the environment while you are having fun."

The restoration of potable water is part of a wider capital program for upgrades on Governors Island. The first phase, in which crews laid 2,500 linear feet of pipe from Red Hook, Brooklyn, to the island was completed this past spring.

By December, crews will have installed about 15,000 linear feet of distribution parking to provide potable water to buildings throughout the historic district on the island.

Governors Island opened for the season late in May, and visitors are also enjoying 30 new acres of park that opened for the first time this year – along with an assortment of arts, cultural and recreational programs.

The Trust for Governors Island has been working to transform the former military base into an open public space, as well as a site for educational, nonprofit, and commercial facilities.

In the summer of 2013, the trust broke ground on the Hills, which once completed will rise 25 to 80 feet above the island and provide visitors with a panoramic view of the Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor, and the Lower Manhattan skyline.

Last summer, crowds flocked to Governors Island for Fête Paradiso, a traveling festival featuring an assortment of vintage French carnival rides and carousels, a 1910 Limonaire fairground organ, sideshow performances, and a beer garden.

Governors Island is open this year every day until Sept. 28.

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