We will make the reduction of CSO volumes and other environmental issues a priority for all relevant City agencies
Multiple agencies, including but not limited to the Departments of Transportation, Parks & Recreation, Buildings, and City Planning are responsible for infrastructure or development that has direct impacts on pollution in our waterways. But water quality is seldom considered during the decisions and activities these agencies undertake on a daily basis. Every time the City plants a tree, a contractor builds a house, or an agency constructs a road, there is little opportunity or incentive to integrate water quality measures. This has created barriers to our ability to assess and develop comprehensive policies for the deployment of BMPs on a citywide basis.

That's why we will establish the New York City Interagency BMP Task Force which will bring together all relevant City agencies to analyze ways to incorporate BMPs into the design and construction of projects. This year, the Task Force will pilot three of the most promising BMPs followed by a series of additional pilots across New York and measure the results. After 18 months, the Task Force will announce a plan to integrate the most successful BMPs on a larger scale. The recommendations of this plan will not only reduce CSO volumes, they will also help cool the city and reduce construction and demolition waste creation by City agencies.

The focus will be on greening the public right-of-way, developing BMPs on City-owned land, improving environmental performance of open space, and creating strategies to promote BMPs on private development.

The Task Force and its working groups will be coordinated by the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability with participation from the Departments of Environmental Protection, Design and Construction, Transportation, Citywide Administrative Services, Parks & Recreation, Health and Mental Hygiene, City Planning, and Buildings, and the Office of Management and Budget.

The Task Force also will create a set of performance metrics to be published annually. Possible metrics include market penetration of BMPs on private development, acres of permeable surfaces, storm water capture rates, and improvement in water quality such as reductions in fecal-coliform levels and increases in dissolved oxygen. It will develop a process to monitor, assess, and report agency and BMP performance, as well as a process to reevaluate and modify the report every two years.

Progress (as of 4/22/08):
In May, the City launched the Interagency Best Management Practices (BMP) Task Force to pursue implementation of stormwater management strategies through all 16 relevant agencies, and the Task Force continues its work towards the release of a citywide stormwater management plan. The Task Force has held three public outreach meetings so far and continues to meet with other local, State, and Federal stakeholders. The Task Force is also working with national experts on low impact development and green infrastructure. To codify these efforts, the Administration worked with the City Council on a stormwater management planning bill, Local Law 5 (LL5), which Mayor Bloomberg signed into law on February 19. LL5 requires the City to conduct a thorough study of stormwater BMPs, determine the estimated costs and benefits of each practice, and provide a draft stormwater management plan by October 1, 2008 for public comment. The Interagency BMP Task Force is charged with implementation of this law.