By Stephen Leahy
UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jan 18 2013 (IPS)
After Hurricane Sandy swept through the northeast of the United States late October 2012, millions of New Yorkers were left for days without electricity. But they still had access to drinking water, thanks to New York City’s reliance on protected watershed areas for potable water.
Instead of using electric-powered water treatment plans, New York City brings its high-quality drinking water through aqueducts connected to protected areas in the nearby Catskill/Delaware forests and wetlands – just one example of how protecting watersheds can provide residential areas with drinking water and flood and pollution protection at bargain basement prices.
New York saved between four and six billion dollars on the cost of water treatment plants by protecting forests and compensating farmers in the Catskills for reducing pollution in lakes and streams.
Stephen Leahy, International Environmental Journalist 
Natural disasters are a a real issue to water treatment. In non-disaster times I recommend water softeners to people but I keep hearing that many states may outlaw salt-based water softeners, is there any truth to this?
Protected watershed areas are very important because they can provide us with potable water once natural disasters happen. Any using electric-powered water treatment plan is useless because of the lack of electricity. I have to say New York does a good job on protecting watershed areas.