Cost of Bronx filter plant construction rises

The cost to build a water filtration plant 10 stories
below Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx has risen due to increasing construction
costs, design changes and a low number of bidders for the project. The project
is now expected to cost close to $3.1 billion, up from $1.3 billion in 2003 and
early estimates of $660 million in the 1990s. The plant, slated for completion in 2012, is
designed to filter about 300 million gallons of water a day, about a quarter of
the city’s water supply. It will be the city’s first drinking water filtration
facility and is believed to be the first underground filtration facility in the
country.