As a former New Yorker, I find this whole thread majorly uninformed. Most of New York's water moves from the Catskills to the tap (or toilet) via gravity, without encountering a pump at any point during the way. Even if all power and automated controls failed, most of the city would continue to get water (remember - the system was designed long before computers, or even widespread electricity). The only areas with major problems would be the high spots - Washington Heights/ Spanish Harlem, some parts of the Bronx, and the upper floors of some highrises. Even assuming that somehow every toilet in the city became unusable, the decidedly lowtech solid waste disposal system (trucks to landfills in Staten Island and New Jersey, or barges to the Atlantic), would still operate. The solid volume of people's excrement is miniscule compared to the volume of material already handled. (If you think no crap goes into the system, you clearly have not spent time near in infant in the age of Pampers). I suspect that Los Angeles, and other cities which have grown recently in arid areas, would have a lot more trouble. Peter Trei