DEP Biweekly Reports Folder 0049, 2000-2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMP 4TAL PROTECTION axacunvn om+tces 59.17 JUNCTION BLVD„ 14TH FLOOR, CORONA, NEW YORK 113611-5107 JOEL A. M= BJL. PS, COMMISSIONER (718) 595-6565 PAX! C7IS) 545-3525 E-mail [email protected]

MEMORANDUM

To: Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani

From: Commissioner Joel A. Miele Sr.,

Re: Si-weekly Report - August 18 to

Date: September 1, 2000

Emerging Issues

Kensice FrorectioWEPA Meeting On August 29, DEP staff and 1 met with EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne Fox to discuss two key watershed protection programs: the upgrade of non-City-owned wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the watershed and the City's efforts to protect and acquire land in the Kensico Reservoir basin. DEP provided an update on the progress of the WWTP Upgrade Pwgraln and discussed the recently-completed action plan to accelerate the program. DEP now projects that 90°A of the wastewater flow in the Catskill/Delaware watersheds (those covered by EPA's Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD) will be upgraded to tertiary treatment by the end of the second quarter of 2002, in substantial compliance with FAD mandates, In discussions about the Kensico basin, EPA. reiterated its concern that DEP acquire as much land as possible in the basin. DEP countered by putting the land acquisition effort in Kensico in the context of the comprehensive and multi-faceted protection strategy that has been developed and implemented for the basin. For more than a decade, DEP has been studying the basin and the potential sources of water pollution from the lands surrounding the reservoir. Based on those studies, DEP has put in place nearly a dozen programs to address septic systems, sewers, stonnwater r unof waterfowl populations and pollutants from the corporate parks and the Westchester County Airport. These programs have been effective in maintaining the high quality of New York City's water, to the point that the Catskill and Delaware waters that flow into Kensico actually improve in quality as they pass through the reservoir, DEP's efforts to acquire additional protective lands ill the basin will only enhance the protection afforded by the programs that are already in place.

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