After years of pressure from advocates, the Water Board indicated this spring a new interest in rejiggering water fees to account for the cost of stormwater. Will that be part of the next year’s agenda?
The city’s 600 miles of coastline and centuries of underground infrastructure are a lot to police for the murky problems of illicit sewage connections and illegal dumping. Here’s how New Yorkers can help.
As the decades-long work to clean up the city’s rivers and creeks, canals and bays rolls on, it’s unclear just how big a problem unauthorized sewage connections and illegal industrial dumping present.
But water-quality advocates are seeking more than just better engagement.
A mayor who was not known for environmental advocacy when he took office has set ambitious goals for carbon reduction, zero waste and air quality. Advocates hope he’ll turn more of those plans into reality if he’s re-elected.
The EPA let New York State use outdated standards in approving the city’s plans to finally deal with pollution from sewer overflows that taint rivers and bays, canals and creeks, advocates say.
For some residents in a few neighborhoods, a rainy day brings the risk that sewage will flow back into their basements. The city has been working to address the issue, but the feds are demanding faster action.
An already belated effort to bring city rivers and bays up to Clean Water Act standards appears to have stalled because of a legal dispute involving Albany’s approval of the city’s cleanup plans.
Fifty years ago, New York voters approved the Pure Waters Bond Act, a predecessor of the Clean Water Act, which set the national goal of making all our waters safe for swimming. The question now is whether we let the last generation’s investment go to waste.
Finish the breakfast dishes, take a shower, flush the toilet, brush your teeth, boil some water for tea and then sit down to hear reporting and interviews on the city’s billion-gallon-a-day empire of water.
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
