Westchester · Cortlandt, NY
Three reservoirs up top, a river below the dam. DEP’s latest storage for the Croton System, which holds New Croton and Cross River, the whole NYC system that feeds Kensico, and live flow on the Croton River below the New Croton Dam, against USGS’s normal for the date. Real numbers or none.
Reservoir levels · NYC DEP
The Croton System and the whole NYC system
Croton System: 100.2% of usable storage · whole NYC system 82.2% (normal for the date 75.3%) · DEP, October 22, 2026.
New Croton and Cross River: Both are Croton System reservoirs, so the Croton System number is theirs.
Kensico: DEP doesn’t post Kensico on its own. Its water comes down the aqueducts from the six reservoirs west of the Hudson, the small tanks above.
Cross River below the reservoir, at Katonah: Normal for Oct 23: about 12 cfs, the median of 32 years. Right now: normal.
The reservoirs
Reservoirs don’t have flow, they have storage. DEP posts the Croton System, all 12 of its reservoirs, as one number. New Croton and Cross River are both in it. New Croton is the biggest of the 12, and it runs through Cortlandt, Yorktown, Somers, Bedford, and New Castle.
Kensico is a different story. DEP counts it with the Catskill and Delaware reservoirs, and most of its water comes down the aqueducts from the six reservoirs west of the Hudson. DEP doesn’t post Kensico on its own, so the whole NYC system and those six tanks are the closest read.
Cross River gets live river flow instead: the gauge on the river below the reservoir, at Katonah, which shows flow, not the reservoir’s level. The storage numbers carry the date DEP posted them.
Right now · below the New Croton Dam
Croton River at New Croton Dam
227 cfs · above normal for Oct 23 · gauge read 11:45 PM, Oct 22 ET
Muscoot River below the Amawalk dam: Normal for Oct 23: about 16 cfs, the median of 32 years. Right now: normal.
The streams
Below the New Croton Dam, the Croton River picks up again and runs southwest to the Hudson. The gauge sits at the dam, so what it reads is the river leaving the reservoir. Here the daily flow swings a lot from year to year, so “above normal” can mean a large multiple of the median.
The Muscoot line reads the river below the Amawalk dam, where it runs down to the Muscoot Reservoir.
The smaller streams around Cortlandt and Peekskill, like Peekskill Hollow Creek and Annsville Creek, have no live gauge, so these two are the closest real numbers. A gauge reads one spot, so take the number as the river’s mood, not the depth at your boots.
Normal is USGS’s own call: the middle half of the daily flows on record for this date, across every year the gauge has run. You know your water better than a chart does.
Permits and rules
Fishing New Croton, Kensico, or Cross River takes a New York fishing license and a free DEP Access Permit. Kids 15 and under don’t need their own permit when they come with a permit holder over 18. The permit is good for five years, and applying online prints it right away. Fishing from a boat also takes a DEP boat tag, which comes after a free steam cleaning and registration appointment.
Start with DEP’s fishing page, the Access Permit FAQs, and boating on the reservoirs. The permit itself comes from DEP’s Access Permit system.
Seasons, sizes, and limits are DEC’s call, not mine, and they change. Check DEC’s Region 3 special rules, which list Kensico and New Croton, and the inland trout stream rules before you go.
Where I fish
I fish the Croton reservoir every week, and Kensico and Cross River regularly. I also fish the small rivers around Cortlandt for small trout. And once a year, it’s the Salmon River.
Skunk Bell
Back from the water? Ring it honest. Landed or skunked, one ring a day. Nobody is keeping score but the bell, and the bell only counts the year.
2026 so far: 5 landed · 1 skunked
Rung. Same bell tomorrow.
You rang today. Tomorrow is another cast.
All rivers Salmon River Upper Delaware New Croton Reservoir Kensico Reservoir Cross River Reservoir Fishing room
Throw five on it
