This Is New York: Matthew Malina, Creator of NYC H2O

NEW YORK—Most people just turn on the faucet without thinking about where the water comes from—or where it is going. Not Matt Malina. He has made it his mission to break down New York City’s world-class water system and help educate others about it.

Who else would know that stores in California and Florida try to mimic the mineral content of New York City water to make bagels as good as New York’s? Malina does, and he loves educating people about it. 

“Upstate in the Catskills, where our water comes from, there is a lot of bluestone,” he said. “And it’s believed that because the water passes over a lot of that bluestone, it picks up those minerals and that adds to the flavor of our water.”

Malina, who runs his own private tutoring business, has also taken his love of water and put energy into NYC H2O, a non-profit organization that offers educational programs about New York City’s water and ecology. “None of the stuff I do is rocket science,” said Malina, whose favorite mathematician is Archimedes. 

No Tour, No Problem

Today, Malina can spout off many facts about the city’s water system, much of which comes from seeing it in action. But had it not been for meeting several key people, he might just be another curious citizen with unanswered questions. 

In 2008, the New York native became interested in the city’s water system after reading about a new water tunnel being installed 600 feet below the bedrock.

Curious about how it all worked, Malina decided to take a tour of the sewage treatment plant. “They’re incredible works of civil engineering. It’s important that people understand that part of their city ecology,” he said.

He was denied access, as the city stopped giving tours following 9/11. He was discouraged, but continued to educate himself about the city’s water system through other avenues in hopes of educating the students he was tutoring.

He attended a teaching workshop offered by the New York Aquarium and happened to sit next to Damian Griffin, the education director of the Bronx River Alliance. Malina explained to Griffin his frustration about not being able to get a sewage plant tour. 

Griffin had contacts with the Yonkers treatment plant and set Malina up with a tour. On that tour, Malina met Lisa Breslof who worked in the education department of the American Museum of Natural History. Breslof knew Diane Galusha, who wrote the history of the New York City water system called “Liquid Assets.” 

Soon after, the three water system buffs gave a lecture at the museum, which was attended by over a hundred like-minded people, and Malina’s network expanded. “That kind of got me started and gave me a push over the edge,” Malina said. 

In 2009 Malina co-founded NYC H2O to pass on his water system knowledge by giving tours of local reservoirs, like the Jerome Park Reservoir, and even hikes just outside of the city, such as the Rain Drop to Reservoir hike.

“I’m very fortunate because luckily the people that are interested in the water stuff, they’re teachers themselves, and they want to share the knowledge,” Malina said. 

Malina is an encyclopedia of knowledge about New York City waterways, something he doesn’t do for personal gain, but because he genuinely loves to educate others about what is going on in their city. He hopes to be able to offer some of the programs to public school students when school is back in session this fall.

“I think you learn the most when you are outside,” Malina said. “The term they call it is experiential learning. But just to give a student or a kid an opportunity, or an adult, to just say well, what is that? Why is that there? Now they’re involved.”

Leisure Time

Malina spends most of his days continuing his education about the city’s water system, but when it is time to relax he loves to cycle, swim with the stingrays in Rockaway, walk around Central Park, or take short trips just outside of the city for hiking.

Malina grew up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and his father was an avid cyclist, riding all over the city no matter the weather. 

“My dad would ride to work every day, rain or shine and in the winter. He would have icicles coming off of his mustache,” Malina said. He would tote the young Malina on his handlebars to and from kindergarten. When he got a little older, Malina’s sister would take him riding—something they still do. 

Swimming also became a passion, although it wasn’t born out of a love of water, but more a desire to protect himself.

“I was kind of smaller and so I wanted to beef up,” Malina said of his times in junior high school. “I looked up to my friend’s older brother because he was older, bigger, and stronger than us. He swam at the local Y on 14th Street. And so I started doing that and I really liked it. Ever since, I have stuck with swimming.” 

Malina still competes from time to time, but prefers open water races to the pool these days. At the end of June he traveled to Italy for a 5K race in the Mediterranean Sea and in July swam in a race around Governor’s Island.