A walk-through of the still-closed Jerome Park Reservoir has been rescheduled for Nov. 14 after city officials postponed it due to severe weather forecasts.

The tour of the massive manmade reservoir was supposed to have taken place Oct. 3, following years of prodding by park advocates who have long hoped for the public reservoir access. As it stands, residents are prohibited from walking the reservoir’s scenic two-mile perimeter for security reasons, a position long held by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency that holds oversight of the reservoir. A fraction of the city’s drinking water, originating from the New Croton Aqueduct, comes from the reservoir. The water’s purified by the neighboring Croton Water Filtration Plant, built underneath Van Cortlandt Park.

Park activists have pressed the DEP to allow access to the pathway for decades. Those efforts were exacerbated by a 2011 report by the Bronx Borough President’s Office that called for pilot access. Under the de Blasio Administration, the pilot program was established and a Jerome Park Reservoir Task Force was created to see the program through.

The original plan has been largely kept intact, with residents required to present tickets for guided tours scheduled for Nov. 14 and 15, beginning at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. each day. Self-guided walks will happen from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. both days. The same rules for participants still apply: bags, cell phones and cameras will be barred from the premises for security reasons.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.