Management of New York City

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Management of New York Citys Watershed

• Michael A. Principe, Ph.D.
• Deputy Commissioner
• New York City
• Department of Environmental Protection
• Bureau of Water Supply
• October 10, 2005

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Presentation Outline

• Development of NYCs Watershed Protection Program
• Costs and Funding
• Contractual Mechanisms Supporting Watershed
  Protection
• Major Program Elements

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• Primarily a surface water supply
• 19 reservoirs 3 controlled lakes
• System Capacity 550 billion gallons (over 2
  billion kiloliters)
• Serves 9 million people (1/2 of population of New
  York State)
• Delivers approx. 1.2 billion gallons (4.5 million
  kiloliters) per day to the City
• Source of water is a 2,000 square mile (5,180
  square kilometer) watershed in parts of 8 upstate
  counties
• Operated and maintained by NYCDEP

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CATSKILL AND DELAWARE SUPPLIES

• Located primarily West of the Hudson River
• Rural, mountainous watershed
• 70 forested, low population, significant
  agricultural uses
• Shallow soils and porous rock produce high
  quality water
• City has Filtration Avoidance Determination for
  these supplies

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Governmental Agencies Involved in Watershed
Protection

• Program involves agencies from
• Federal (USEPA)
• State
• New York City
• 8 upstate counties
• 60 towns and villages
• Crosses multiple jurisdictions, all outside of
  NYC
• New York has strong home rule tradition

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Issues Driving City to Watershed Protection

• The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1986 and the
  Surface Water Treatment Rule of 1989 established
  objective and subjective criteria for avoidance
• Concern over whether City could meet subjective
  criteria
• City owned less than 8 of watershed
• City regulations outmoded
• City alarmed by potential cost of filtration
  plant (originally estimated at 4-8 billion)
• Firm belief by NYC that reliance on end-of-pipe
  solutions alone is not prudent best approach is
  to protect quality of water at its source

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Development of Watershed Protection Program

• DEP received first filtration waiver from EPA in
  1993
• Waiver conditioned on implementation of
  protection programs
• DEP designed comprehensive monitoring program to
  assess threats to water quality
• Based on assessment of threats, management
  programs designed and implemented

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Watershed Memorandum of Agreement

• MOA established collaborative approach between
  City, State, watershed residents, environmental
  groups and regulators
• Signed in 1997
• Allowed City to proceed with Watershed
  Regulations, Land Acquisition and Partnership
  Programs
• City had to agree to fund programs

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Contractual Arrangements

• DEP contracted with local public, private and
  non-profit entities to use City ratepayer funding
  to implement programs
• Groups include Catskill Watershed Corporation,
  Agricultural Council and county agencies
• All contracts subject to City procurement rules

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Catskill Watershed Corporation

• MOA created the Catskill Watershed Corporation
  (CWC)
• CWC comprised of local representatives
• Voting rights apportioned based on percent of
  land in watershed
• CWC provided with 160 million of City funding
  for wastewater, stormwater and economic
  development programs

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How is Watershed Protection Funded?

• DEP is funded by water and sewer rates
• Revenues and expenses are managed by the New York
  City Municipal Water Finance Authority, an
  independent entity established in 1984
• Revenues collected by the Water Finance Authority
  are independent from other NYC funding and cannot
  be diverted to other NYC programs
• The Water Finance Authority collected 1.7
  billion in 2004. 900 million of this was used
  for water supply operations and debt service

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Water Sewer Rate Structure

• Water rate 1.65 per 100 cubic feet
• Average single-family house pays about 220/year
  for water
• Sewer rate 2.62 per 100 cubic feet
• Consumption decreased by nearly one-third since
  1980s due to conservation
• NYC rates are lower than most major US cities
  including Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington, Boston
  and Atlanta

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Watershed Protection Program
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Types of Watershed Protection Programs

• Protection Programs Designed to prevent future
  degradation of water quality large scale and
  evaluated over the long-term.
• Remediation Programs Designed to address
  specific problems and are expected to result in
  measurable decreases in pollutants small scale
  and evaluated over the short-term.

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Watershed Protection ProgramsRemedial
Protective

• Stormwater Controls
• WWTP Upgrades
• Sewer Extensions
• Septic System Rehabilitation
• Salt Sand Storage
• Stream Corridor Protection

• Watershed Rules Regulations
• Land Acquisition
• Agricultural Programs
• Forestry Management

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Major Watershed Protection Program Elements

• Land Acquisition Program
• More than 385,000 acres (156,000 hectares)
  solicited
• 68,000 acres (27,660 hectares) acquired/under
  contract
• 21,000 acres (8,565 hectares) under contract
  for Agricultural Easements

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Major Watershed Protection Program Elements

•  Partnership Programs
• 2,000 failing septic systems remediated
• Nearly 50 stormwater retrofits funded
• 44 stormwater BMPs installed
• Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) being
  upgraded to tertiary treatment (25 WOH, 70 EOH)
• 7 new WWTPs being constructed
• Watershed Agricultural Program
• 2900 Best Management Practices (BMPs)
  implemented
• 1,775 miles (2,857 km) of stream buffers
  protected through Conservation Reserve
  Enhancement Program
• New initiatives on small farms and EOH farms

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Grommeck Farm During Construction
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Following Best Management Practice (BMP)
Implementation
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One year after BMP Implementation
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Major Watershed Protection Program Elements

• Watershed Rules and Regulations
• Updated in 1997 to address WWTPs, septic systems
  and stormwater runoff
• Designed to protect sensitive areas streams,
  wetlands, reservoirs and steep slopes
• 1,000s of projects reviewed to date
• Coordinated field inspection and patrol with
  Engineering and NYCDEP Police
• City funds most costs of compliance

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DELAWARE RESERVOIR BASIN

• Heavy agricultural uses
• 4 large wastewater treatment plants
• Excessive nutrient loading to reservoir led to
  eutrophication

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Watershed Protection Provides Results
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What does watershed protection cost?
Program Cost
New Infrastructure Program (1st 7 communities) 96,664,016
Community Wastewater Program (5 communities) 10,000,000
Septic Rehabilitation Maintenance Programs 30,100,000
Sewer Extension Program 10,000,000
Wastewater Plant Upgrades (non-City-owned) 272,000,000
Wastewater Plant Upgrades (City-owned) 271,000,000
Alternate Design Septic System Program 3,000,000
Stormwater Retrofits 15,175,000
Future Stormwater Controls 31,700,000
Farms Forestry 91,000,000
Land Acquisition (includes farm easements) 295,000,000
Stream Management Program 28,000,000
Kensico Water Quality Protection Program 43,000,000
East of Hudson Non-Point Source Control Program 68,000,000
Miscellaneous Programs - CFF, Good Neighbor, etc. 97,300,000
Catskill/Delaware UV Plant 670,000,000
Total 2,031,939,016

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Thank You