The Big Apple’s water supply has a new best friend.
A team of dogs is helping protect New York City’s drinking water supply by sniffing out invasive zebra mussels at two Westchester County reservoirs, Titicus and Cross River.
“Conservation dogs are a new tool in DEP’s toolbox for safeguarding New York City’s drinking water, underscoring the agency’s commitment to maintaining the nation’s largest unfiltered supply,” a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection told The Post.
The heroic hounds are trained on 14 invasive species and live full time with their dedicated handlers who receive stipends from the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference.
According to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, dogs’ sense of smell can be 100,000 times more sensitive than humans’, and they can search for species “nearly impossible to locate with traditional survey methods.”
Zebra mussels can clog pipes and alter water chemistry. They reproduce quickly in underwater infrastructure and are tough to find once they take hold, the National Park Service said.
Peat, a Labrador who lives in Newburgh with program leader Arden Blumenthal, is trained specifically on zebra mussels and was chosen as the reservoir scout to sniff around boat launches, storage areas and shorelines.
“He is just a typical boy. He’s sweet and goofy when it’s not work time,” Blumenthal said. “He loves a belly rub, but he’s also a seriously persistent workaholic.”
The pup plan began last March, when the DEC awarded a $400,000 contract to the trail conference for “dog services” to detect, delineate and manage invasive species.
In late September, New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection partnered with the state to search New York’s reservoirs for zebra mussels.
What’s behind the program’s $400,000 price tag?
Blumenthal said time is the main cost. The job is physically demanding, and the dogs need to be put through finely-tuned training plans to weather the rough terrain.
“It takes time to maintain their training and give them the level of performance that we want them to have,” said Blumenthal, who rewards Peat for his hard work with extra fun time.
“His paycheck is to get to play with me,” she said.
So far, three top candidates — Peat, another Labrador and a Australian cattle dog — have been trained to serve as the state’s Dogs for Invasive Species Control and have surveyed for invasive species across New York’s parks and waterways.
The trail conference has plans to add a fourth dog to its pack.
