This project works to fill a gap in political economic environmental theories through a historical analysis of the New York City water supply and its impacts on the environment and growth patterns of rural NY State. Past research has focused on water scarcity and the degradation of rural environments due to the overuse of resources by the corresponding urban areas. This project focuses on a region where water is abundant and the negative impact on the rural communities is growth related, not environmentally based. I argue that NYC presents a case that is unique to the U.S, but can also be generalized to other world cities that are also water-rich, as a constantly growing urban area whose need for water has led to environmental preservation in surrounding rural areas. NYC also provides a valuable internal comparison between the rural, unfiltered West of the Hudson (WOH) watershed and the suburbanized, filtered East of the Hudson (EOH) watershed. Environmental theories argue that capitalist growth is inextricably linked with environmental degradation. These theories are largely focused on land use and have ignored the role of water in urban growth. They have also neglected how historical land use can impact future growth directions. Research on the subject of NYC helps to address this need for a historical understanding of urban growth, as an urban area that is relatively small spatially. Comparative historical analysis finds that the creation of NYC's water supply over 100 years ago modified the growth patterns of the WOH watershed region due to land acquisition. In 1990, NYC once again reached into its hinterlands to impose strict environmental regulations in accordance with the EPA's surface water filtration ruling. Ultimately, this allowed for the City to leave 90% of its water unfiltered and save over 6 billion in filtration costs, which allowed for continued growth in NYC. With the case of NYC, we can see that politics surrounding urban growth can lead to environmental preservation. This calls for a closer look at prominent environmental theories.