{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox body of water | name = Lake DeForest | image = Lake_DeForest_High_Tor.jpg | caption = Lake DeForest viewed from nearby High Tor, a summit of the northern Hudson River Palisades. | image_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = | location = Clarkstown, New York,<br>United States | coords = {{coord|41.1558|-73.9584|type:landmark_region:US-NY|format=dms|name=Lake Deforest|display=inline,title}} | type = Reservoir | inflow = Hackensack River | outflow = | catchment = | basin_countries = Newark Basin<br>United States | length = | width = | area = {{convert|744|acres|abbr=on}}<ref name=gnis>{{gnis|948098}}</ref> | depth = | max-depth = | volume = | residence_time = | shore = | elevation = {{convert|24|m|abbr=on|order=flip}}<ref name=gnis /> | islands = | cities = | frozen = <!-- Map --> | pushpin_map = New York#USA | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = Location of Lake DeForest in New York, USA. | pushpin_map_caption = <!-- Below --> | website = | reference = }} '''Lake DeForest''', also called '''DeForest Lake''',<ref name="Leiby_1969">{{Citation |last=Leiby |first=Adrian C. |others=In collaboration with Nancy Wichman |year=1969 |title=The Hackensack Water Company, 1869-1969 |publisher=Bergen County Historical Society |oclc=13847 |asin=B0006C01Q0 |postscript=.}}</ref>{{rp|195–213}} is a reservoir in Clarkstown, New York, created in 1956 by impounding the Hackensack River, which is a principal part of the water supply for Rockland County, New York and Northern New Jersey, mainly Bergen and Hudson counties.<ref>[http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/United-Water-Resources-Inc-company-History.html History of Hackensack Water Company/United Water Company]</ref> The reservoir is owned and operated by Suez North America, and is the most upstream of its reservoirs along the river's watershed, the others being Lake Tappan, the Woodcliff Lake Reservoir, and the Oradell Reservoir. It has a storage capacity of 5.6 billion gallons.<ref>{{cite web | title = Lake DeForest | work = Haverstraw Water Supply Project | publisher = United Water | date = | url = http://haverstrawwatersupplyproject.com/project-facts/fact-vs-fiction/lake-deforest.html | accessdate = 2012-10-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120508165112/http://www.haverstrawwatersupplyproject.com/project-facts/fact-vs-fiction/lake-deforest.html | archive-date = 2012-05-08 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rccompplan.com/uploads/3/1/7/9/3179997/12.0_infrastructure_-_final_draft_workshop_chapter.pdf|title=Chapter 12.0: Infrastructure|date=September 1, 2010|work=Rockland County Comprehensive Plan 280 DRAFT|publisher=United Water|accessdate=2012-10-27}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Water Sources in Rockland County | work = Superfund Research Program | publisher = Columbia University | date = | url = http://superfund.ciesin.columbia.edu/rocklandwater/supply_sources.html | accessdate = 2012-10-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121023014731/http://superfund.ciesin.columbia.edu/Rocklandwater/supply_sources.html | archive-date = 2012-10-23 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Lake DeForest | publisher = USGS | page = | date = | url = https://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/1976/74/pdf/wrir76-74. | accessdate = 2012-10-27 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Swimming and bathing are prohibited because the water is reserved for potable use.<ref name="Leiby_1969"/>{{rp|212}} The lake is traversed by a causeway carrying Congers Road (CR 80).
==History== The lake was developed in 1956 by an interstate partnership of the Hackensack Water Company (of New Jersey) and the Spring Valley Water Company (of Spring Valley, New York), to provide water on both sides of the state line.<ref name="Leiby_1969"/>{{rp|195–213}}
Adrian Leiby's monograph, ''The Hackensack Water Company, 1869-1969'',<ref name="Leiby_1969"/> describes the conception of the lake (owing chiefly to George F. Wieghardt, chief engineer from 1938 to 1954);<ref name="Leiby_1969"/>{{rp|195–213}} the sense that the proposed lake needed to be built soon, before any ill-advised new housing developments on the swampy lowlands would preclude it;<ref name="Leiby_1969"/>{{rp|195–213}} and unrest among the public fueled by fears the proposed lake was a plan by New Jersey thieves to steal water from New York state or to create miles of "smelly mud flats" in Clarkstown.<ref name="Leiby_1969"/>{{rp|195–213}} By the time of a severe drought in 1963-65, Leiby noted, public approval of the attractive lake and the water security it provided was nearly universal;<ref name="Leiby_1969"/>{{rp|221}} writing in 1969, he said, "Twelve years later it is hard to believe that there is a single person in the County who would willingly see DeForest Lake drained and its land filled with development houses."<ref name="Leiby_1969"/>{{rp|213}}
The lake is named after Henry L. deForest, president of Hackensack Water Company from 1936 to 1950, under whose presidency the lake was conceived;<ref name="Leiby_1969"/>{{rp|210}} at the time that the completed lake was dedicated on March 13, 1957, Henry L. deForest had recently died. Henry's father, Robert W. DeForest, had led the Hackensack Water Company from 1881 to 1926.
The Hackensack Water Company and the Spring Valley Water Company had long cooperated, the former being a chief stockholder of the latter; they were merged into United Water Resources in the 1980s, which was later acquired by Suez North America.
==See also== * List of dams and reservoirs in New York * New Milford Plant of the Hackensack Water Company * Hackensack Water Company Complex * List of crossings of the Hackensack River * List of dams and reservoirs in New Jersey
==References== {{reflist}} {{Passaic River}} {{authority control}}
DeForest Category:Hackensack River Category:Protected areas of Rockland County, New York Category:United Water Category:Dams completed in 1956 DeForest Category:Clarkstown, New York