See It: Central Park Reservoir Strewn With Trash Amid Holidays

CENTRAL PARK, NY — Central Park's iconic reservoir is swimming in trash, photographs taken over the holidays show.

The lapping waves of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir are full of bottle caps, empty food containers and lighters, the pictures taken Monday show.

Floating fall leaves just don't look as nice with pieces of styrofoam and wrappers mixed in.

However, removing trash from the Reservoir is "not a simple task."

"Removing trash from the Reservoir is not a simple task but a complex operation where staff must use safety harnesses to repel down the slope from a fixed anchor point and then methodically remove debris while moving around the Reservoir from point to point," a spokesperson from the Central Park Conservancy told Patch.

Cleaning debris and trash is also easier during the warmer months, when employees don't have to contend with ice and snow.

"Because of the complicated nature of keeping the Reservoir clean, we'd like to remind visitors to please practice the 'carry in, carry out' philosophy or use one of the many trash cans found throughout the Park," the spokesperson added.

The Conservancy released a video this summer explaining how the Reservoir gets cleaned.

You can learn more about the Reservoir on the Central Park website.