First responders from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Police division, DEP detectives, and two FDNY ambulances were called to the Jerome Park Reservoir for a report of an unconscious woman on Thursday, July 30.

 

According to an NYPD spokesperson, the incident was reported at 10:28 a.m. on Thursday when four DEP officers, two plain clothes DEP detectives, and two ambulances were dispatched after receiving a 911 call regarding “an aided female” at a DEP site at 3976 Sedgwick Avenue at Dickinson Avenue in Van Cortlandt Village on the northern edge of the Reservoir (Gate House 7).

Jerome Park Reservoir, Van Cortlandt Village, Bronx, Aug. 1, 2026 V1 Video by Síle Moloney

The latter is surrounded by the Bronx neighborhoods of Van Cortlandt Village, Bedford Park, and Kingsbridge Heights and is connected to the Croton Water Filtration Plant located beneath Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park, along Jerome Avenue in the Norwood section of The Bronx.

 

Two plain-clothes detectives from the DEP arrived and entered the trailer used as the engineer’s field office and briefly spoke to Reservoir officials before leaving. Of the 911 caller, the NYPD spokesperson later told Norwood News, “The caller cancelled the request before arrival of police to the scene.”

At just after 11 a.m. on Thursday, shortly after the two ambulances and three police vehicles drove away from the scene, a woman in a white summer shirt and jeans was seen emerging from the work trailer with a male DEP worker wearing a yellow work vest.

 

An FDNY/EMS spokesperson later told Norwood News, “We had ambulances there, but they did not transport anyone. That’s all we have.” When asked what the initial call to the Reservoir was for, the spokesperson responded, “The call was for an unconscious person.”

Just last week, Norwood News reported that the Jerome Park Reservoir is expected to remain dry until 2028, as the massive structure that holds a large percentage of New York City’s water supply undergoes the latest phase of a $38 million reconstruction project.

 

FBI INVESTIGATES CYBER THREATS TO U.S. WATER SYSTEMS

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, July 22, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI updated a report released in April on a warning of an Iran-backed plot to hack America’s critical infrastructure, such as reservoirs and water filtration plants.

In the updated report, Assistant Director of Cybersecurity Chris Butera said, “CISA has constantly warned critical infrastructure stakeholders that Iran-affiliated threat actors are conducting a range of targeted cyber activity to include (and) compromise unsecured internet-connected accounts and devices.”

 

In the same updated report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) assistant administrator for water, Jess Kramer, added, “Cybersecurity threats are a serious concern for our nation’s drinking water and waterway systems, and these threats pose a legitimate risk to communities, businesses, hospitals, schools, and other critical sectors that rely on these lifeline services.”

Kramer added, “EPA encourages water systems to be vigilant, stay informed, and work to adopt cybersecurity’s best practices.”

 

On the heels of the updated report, CBS News, citing an unnamed FBI employee, The New York Times, and other outlets reported that the U.S. was probing cyberattacks on U.S. water systems in seven states. To date, according to CBS News, federal authorities investigating the cyberattacks have not publicly named all seven affected locations. However, three states have been explicitly identified by local officials or state records: Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the outlet reported.

 

According to the various news reports, 30 separate water systems in Minnesota were targeted.

Norwood News reached out to the FBI for comment on the incident and will share any feedback we receive.

 

Norwood News spoke to some residents in the area on Saturday, Aug. 1. Referring to the woman who fell unconscious, one resident from Orloff Avenue in Van Cortlandt Park, Joseph, asked, “How did she get in there?” Norwood News said we didn’t know if she is a worker or non-worker, and shared the information we had received from official sources.

 

We added that, as above, there was no confirmation that the woman had been affected by water contamination, only that she had become “unconscious,” and that we have reached out to other agency officials for comment.

 

“Well, with the cyber attack by Iran, that could be very dangerous,” Joseph said. “I would be worried, especially if they’re hacking into the system, here, the Iranians. I saw that they did something in Massachusetts I think, the Chinese. There was something about that. That would be very concerning.” [As above, only Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin have been named to date by authorities out of the seven apparently targeted states.]

 

Norwood News also spoke to another male “lifelong Bronx resident” who was at the bus-stop near the site of the incident on Saturday and he also asked how the woman got inside the site. We shared the only details we received. “They had been repairing the reservoir for the past five years and they just filled it up,” the man said. “This is the first summer that its full of water; it was empty for, like, five years.” Norwood News mentioned that we just put out a story last week reporting that the reservoir was dry and would be until 2028, according to DEP.

 

As of Aug. 1, there is some water in one section of the Reservoir closest to the northern edge up to the east-west partition / dam roughly located on the east side at Gate House 5 at East 205th Street and Goulden Avenue opposite Bronx High School of Science. Below this dam, the Reservoir is dry as of Aug. 1.

“I don’t know what protection they have in place…like the water supply that they have, but they have the police 24 hours a day,” the man continued. “They have gates, they have cameras, so it’s very protected. I was a kid. I grew up around here and when I grew up, there was no gate or nothin’. We used to come out of school and you could walk around and look at the water and walk through the middle, but I feel pretty safe. I don’t think they’ll poison. I think there are so many safeguards and security. Nothing is perfect but you know.”

 

Of the alleged cyber attacks by Iran across the country, the man said, “I don’t know what to say about that. I’m an analogue person living in a digital world. When I was in school, we had typewriters but all this cyber stuff is crazy, how they can hack your personal stuff, your information, hacking. It’s scary stuff but I’m not really concerned. I’m sure they’re on top of it; I hope they are.”

 

Asked if he only drank bottled water, he said, “Always. I don’t like to drink water with fluoride in it. Fluoride is meant to rinse your mouth, not to ingest. Even without that, I’m very leery of drinking tap water but I’m not really concerned about it. I mean it’s possible but I’m not going to walk around worried about it. I think we’re safe.”

 

As reported, in 2019, health officials provided onsite testing for tenants of the nearby twin tower housing complex, Tracey Towers, located in Bedford Park, close to the Reservoir, amid a previous outbreak of Legionnaires’ cases. Legionnaires’ disease is contracted by breathing in tiny water droplets (mist) that contain Legionella bacteria. 

The NYC health department is currently investigating a community cluster of Legionnaires’ disease in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhoods of Carnegie Hill and Yorkville (ZIP codes 10028, 10128, and 10075). “We are confident the source of the Legionella bacteria has been eliminated,” a DOH official said.

 

DOH provided the following overview of the latest outbreak as of July 30:

Cooling Tower Remediation Results

• 183 cooling towers at 160 buildings have been tested for Legionella bacteria. Of those:
  • 77 cooling towers at 75 buildings tested PCR positive for the presence of Legionella bacteria in initial testing.
  • 59 cooling towers at 58 buildings tested culture positive, confirming the presence of live Legionella bacteria. All have been cleaned and disinfected.
  • In total, 124 cooling towers have tested culture negative.

Case Count

• 92 people have tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease:
  • 5 currently hospitalized
  • 67 no longer hospitalized
  • 13 not hospitalized
  • 7 deaths

Diagnosis date is the date the specimen that tested positive was collected from the patient. No cases were diagnosed after 7/21. Data are preliminary and subject to change. Legionnaires’ disease is not caused by any building’s plumbing system. Residents in ZIP codes 10028, 10128, and 10075 can continue to drink tap water, bathe, shower, cook, and use your air conditioner at home.

Any New Yorkers who currently live or work in this area or people who have visited the area since late June and are experiencing flu-like symptoms, such as cough, fever, or difficulty breathing should contact a health care provider immediately. For help finding a provider, regardless of immigration or insurance status, visit NYC Health + Hospitals or call 311 or 844-NYC-4NYC (844-692-4692). Learn more here about what it means when a building tests culture positive for Legionnaires’ disease.

 

According to their website, DEP police are charged with protecting the City’s water supply system that includes two dozen lakes, 2,000 square miles of watershed land across nine counties, and hundreds of miles of tunnels, aqueducts, dams, treatment plants and other facilities.

Norwood News has also reached out to DEP for additional information on the incident. We did not receive an immediate response as of Saturday, Aug. 1.

 

According to DEP, the Jerome Park Reservoir was built between 1894 and 1905, covers 94 acres of land and has the storage capacity to hold 770 million gallons of water. Today, about 10% of New York City’s drinking water passes through the Jerome Park Reservoir and the nearby Croton Water Filtration Plant, DEP officials said.

Norwood News recently reported on unsupervised swims by kids and teens in the Bronx River, amid concerns over drowning and possible toxins.

 

Construction for the Croton Water Filtration Plant began in 2005. It was supposed to be completed in 2011 under a federal order, but was marred by the enormity of the project and other issues, including fraud, and ultimately went $3 billion over budget.

 

Lights at Gate House 7 of the Reservoir, where the 911 incident took place, were seen illuminated on the evening of Aug. 1, though it didn’t appear that any workers were inside.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.