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The Plan - Focusing on the five key dimensions of the city’s environment — land, air, water, energy, and transportation — we have developed a plan that can become a model for cities in the 21st century
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Read the Stormwater Plan

Our water system was an engineering marvel when it was created in the early 19th century. But the same technology that once was ahead of its time is now past its prime.  We must also confront the legacy of our industrial past, which treated New York’s waterways as a delivery system, rather than as a source of recreation or a significant ecological habitat. We have two primary water challenges – to ensure the water we drink is pure and reliable, and that the waterways surrounding our city are clean and available for use by New Yorkers.  In order to meet these two challenges, we must aggressively invest in critical back-up systems to our water network and embrace a range of practice.
Water QualityWater Network
WaterwaysInitiatives
Click on the initiatives below for more details
1: Develop and implement Long Term Control Plans
Complete Long Term Control Plans for all 14 New York City Watersheds, as required by law
2: Expand wet weather capacity at treatment plants
Reduce Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) discharges by more than 185 mgd during rainstorms
3: Increase use of High Level Storm Sewers (HLSS)
Initiate Capital HLSS projects where feasible in combined sewer areas citywide and integrate HLSS into major new developments, where appropriate
4: Capture the benefits of our public realm plan
 
5: Expand Blue Belt Program
Expand Bluebelt in Staten Island and other boroughs, where possible
6: Form interagency BMP task
Make the reduction of CSO volumes and other environmental issues a priority for all relevant City agencies
7: Pilot promising Best Management Practices (BMPs)
  • Reintroduce 20 cubic meters of ribbed mussel beds
  • Design five expanded tree pits and monitor impacts
  • Pilot one swale to collect rainwater from roadways
  • Pilot additional BMPs
8: Require greening of parking lots
Modify the zoning resolution to include design guidelines for off-street parking lots for commercial and community facilities
9: Provide incentives for the installation of green roofs
Encourage the installation of green roofs through a new incentive program
10: Protect wetlands
Assess the vulnerability of existing wetlands and identify additional policies to protect them
Learn More
Download
Read the PlaNYC report on Water Quality
(in PDF)
Download
Read Progress Report 2008 on Water Quality
(in PDF)
Additional Resources
Topics:
2005 Tree Census, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation

Draft Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan, 2007, NYC Department of Environmental Protection

Harbor Water, NYC Department of Environmental Protection

Staten Island Bluebelt, NYC Department of Environmental Protection

Trees and Greenstreets, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation

New York Tree Trust, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation

Sustainable Stormwater, Portland City Government Bureau of Environmental Services

Working Towards a Sustainable City: Accomplishments and Agenda, Preliminary Draft, 2005, NYC City Council

Low Impact Development for CSO Control, Journal of Landscape and Urban Planning (in PDF)

General Websites:
U.S. EPA Office of Wastewater Management

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation - Division of Water

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