The city is constructing a bypass around the location with the most significant leakage, which at some point will require the entire aqueduct to be shut down for eight months. America Tonight

The new bypass tunnel will be one of the most complicated undertakings in the agency’s history. Bored deep beneath the Hudson, it will create a bypass around the worst of the leaks.

Construction began last November and is expected to be finished sometime in 2021. At that time, the entire aqueduct will be shut down to allow the bypass to be connected, and it will be dewatered so that the leaks in Wawarsing can be fixed. Since that will deprive New York City of nearly half its water supply, the DEP is currently in the process of making improvements to other parts of the system to make up for the reduced water. The city is making improvements to Catskill Aqueduct, will bring the Croton watershed back online, tap into wells in Queens, and is pushing New Yorkers to use less water during the repairs.

And after decades of denying responsibility, the DEP is stepping up and addressing the human impacts of the leak.

“We've moved forward in Wawarsing with some programs and working closely with the county, with the state and with the town to create a buyout program in Wawarsing,” Rush said.

Many of those near the leak in Wawarsing have taken the money from the buyout and moved on. In the impacted neighborhood, mostly just empty lots and soon-to-be-demolished homes remain.

Jennings is one of the ones who took the buyout. He feels mostly one emotion as he stands on the edge of the vacant field where his home used to be.

“Sheer joy, actually,” he said, ruefully. “ I was just happy to get out of here, as I think a lot of people are.”

But Sickles is staying. He doesn’t believe the money offered by the DEP reflects the true value of his home.

“I’d be taking, like, a $50,000 loss for what they wanted to give me,” Sickles said. “This was the place we were moving into. This was the place we were happy with, you know?

“The flooding came. Well now, ain’t too darn much I can do about it.”

And there’s not much New Yorkers can do about it either – except cross their fingers and hope that the leaks are repaired before disaster strikes.