The black sign in the window displays the permit number for a well on the property; city residents and businesses are allowed to drill wells for non-drinking water uses. All of the city's municipal water now comes from reservoirs upstate. There is a groundwater supply system in southeastern Queens, but its 68 wells have not been used in several years. The non-NYC portion of Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties), however, gets virtually all of its water from wells drilled into the island's aquifers.
There is, of course, at least one non-municipal well in the city that still provides drinking water.













