NYC-WTC_000195490

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

To aid with the enforcement of the Watershed Rules and Regulations, the City hired 70 additional watershed police officers during the past two years and seven new officers will be added during 2002. Presently these officers are divided among the City’s three watersheds where they are presently enhancing security by guarding the rease) reservoirs and aqueducts from potential polluters. , 2002 ’reliminary Budget The Croton system; did not receive a waiver from filtration and the City is under federal and state mandate to construct a water filtration plant. In February 2001, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that New York City is required to obtain State legislation authorizing alienation of park land before it could build the Croton $8,324 Water Treatment Plant beneath the Mosholu Golf Course and Driving Range within Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. This decision, reversing a lower Federal court decision which determined there was no alienation because 28,402 the plant would be entirely below ground and parkland would be restored above it, will result in a delay in the construction of the Croton Plant. The City will be moving ahead on several paths simultaneously; seeking state $36,726 legislation authorizing the City to construct and operate the plant at the Mosholu site; evaluating other siting alternatives: and evaluating when and how the Croton System will be used as part of the City’s overall water $37,446 ; supply and its effects on water quality.

(720) In July 1998 Stage One of City Tunnel Number Three'began transporting drinking water to'New York City residents for the first time. 'Work continues on Stage Two and when completed in 2008, the Tunnel will enhance and improve the adequacy and dependability of the entire water supply system and improve service and pressure to the outlying areas of the City. It will also provide the opportunity for the Department to inspect and repair the other two tunnels, which have been in continuous service since their respective completions in 1917 and 1936.

Wartewarer Treatment Initiatives $36,726) The renegotiated federal coiisent order governing the disposal of New York City’s dewatered sludge (or biosolids) allows the City to replace its prior management program with an Improved and more cost-effective 4 program. Beginning in 1999, under the new program, DEP's biosolids disposal strategy has realized annual cost (24) savings of approximately $45 million while obtaining greater environmental benefits through increased recycling or reuse. The Department will continue managing this'successful program in 2002, with 100 percent of i^s 86 idewatered sludge beneficially used at a projected cost of approximately $50 million.

According to a recent Harbor Survey issued by the Department, water quality in New York Harbor and its sunounding'rivers continues to improve. The Harbor Survey has provided ongoing monitoring of water quality at 53 sampling stations throughout the Harbor since 1909. For example, coliform bacterial counts, which are I indicators of sewage pollution, have continued to decline and, since 1993, compliance with New York State ' standards continues at the highest levels recorded by this program. Improvements have also been realized in the measure of dissolved oxygen (DO) in the City’s surrounding waters. DO is a universal indicator of overall water quality in aquatic systems and it? concentrations in most areas of the Harbor have been notably higher throughout ' the 1990s than in the prior decade. These improvements are primarily in response to the following Department ders to filter initiatives: continued wastewater treatment plant (WTP) reconstruction and upgrades throughout the City; the irds without abatement of illegal discharges; improved surveillance and sewer maintenance; decreased water consumption, conditional and increased capture of wet weather flows. the Catskill live strategy Customer Services Programs e the source ' 1 5 reservoirs, The Department services approximately 828,000 water and sewer customer accounts. Of these, approximately ’ laboratory 714,000 are billed for water and sewer services based on metered consumption and 114,000 are billed on an annual artment has flat-rate system. The accounts billed on a flat-rate basis include approximately 31,000 properties, which are , improving' already metered, but are being billed flat rate during a transition period which requires the owners to install water saving devices and conduct water leak audits.

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