Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program (2020) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 13-26
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From page 13... ...
Like all major American urban water supply systems, NYC, through its Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) , has taken a "multiple barrier" approach to ensuring safe drinking water.
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From page 14... ...
The watershed protection program has allowed the City to avoid filtration of its Catskill/Delaware supply, which provides about 90 percent of the water supply. The NYC DEP has requested the advice of the National Academies as it continues to implement the Watershed Protection Program, which has evolved to respond to changing conditions, regulatory requirements, and threats to the water supply.
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From page 15... ...
Clause 6 states "the Parties enter into a new era of partnership to cooperate in the development and implementation of a Watershed Protection Program that maintains and enhances the quality of the New York City drinking water supply system and the economic vitality and social character of the Watershed communities." It clearly articulates the shared responsibility, mutual respect, and political parity that was -- and still is -- needed to ensure that the Watershed Protection Program would be effective and sustainable. Throughout this report, the economic vitality and social character of the watershed communities are collectively referred to as community vitality, enhancement of which is one of the two major goals of the MOA (the other being enhancement of water quality)
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From page 16... ...
The report also examines the current and future effectiveness of these programs in the context of likely future conditions and the wider portfolio of drinking water supply activities. Although drinking water safety and cost are the first priorities for NYC and state and federal regulators, the impacts of watershed management on upstream communities and the environment also are major concerns.
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From page 17... ...
Nevertheless, the Land Acquisition Program and the Land Management Programs are a central and expensive part of the overall program. These programs attempt to protect water quality while maintaining and enhancing community vitality, a balance that is not always easy to strike and can be a source of friction between NYC DEP and upstate communities.
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From page 18... ...
preventative community vitality Erosion and Stream Management Program $165 $14 Remedial Water quality Turbidity flooding Catskill Turbidity Control Remedial, (Chapter 6) $78 none Water quality Turbidity Programa preventative Water quality and Land Acquisition Program $574 $12.4 Preventative All Land management community vitality (Chapter 7)
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From page 19... ...
. Cat/Del/Cro = Catskill/Delaware/Croton; CTCP = Catskill Turbidity Control Program; DOHMH = NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; O&M = operations and maintenance; OTPS = other than personnel salaries; SW = stormwater; WDRAP = Waterborne Disease Risk Assessment Program; WQ = water quality; WWTP = wastewater treatment plant a The CTCP is not part of the Stream Management Program and was largely a structural analysis that identified potentially feasible, suitable, and cost effective measures for turbidity control.
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From page 20... ...
Much less obvious to the general public, either in NYC or in the upstate watersheds, is the importance of support activities such as monitoring and modeling. Monitoring water quality, evaluating the data in terms of progress toward watershed protection goals, modeling the expected impacts of proposed watershed protection actions, and communicating those results to a full range of stakeholders (i.e., program managers, watershed residents, regulatory agencies, NYC water users, public officials, and other interested parties)
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From page 21... ...
Ongoing challenges also are indicated, as the processes and dual goals of protecting water quality and enhancing community vitality are necessarily dynamic. As discussed below, the NYC DEP has made a major and goodfaith effort to address several aspects of the sources of contamination to the upstate reservoirs, including substantial reduction in the inputs and treatment of some of these contaminants before distribution of the water to NYC residents.
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From page 22... ...
More generally, for the watershed and water quality models used by NYC DEP to fill the needs of effective watershed protection, there needs to be more feedback between the observational record and model outputs. NYC DEP has strongly embraced the use of modeling to support short-term management actions (hours to months)
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From page 23... ...
Continuing Challenge of Nonpoint Source Pollution The 2000 Committee focused on nonpoint sources of phosphorus and other contaminants to the reservoirs, including from agriculture, stormwater, and septic systems. At the time of that report, phosphorus Total maximum daily loads had been created for Cannonsville Reservoir, NYC DEP was considering a phosphorus offset program, and the specter of antidegradation lawsuits loomed large (the antidegradation concept embedded in the Clean Water Act limits the water quality deterioration of surface waterbodies)
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From page 24... ...
The data and information gathered by the Committee to support its conclusions and recommendations came from a wide variety of sources: the primary and secondary literature; detailed data and information requests to the NYC DEP and other Watershed Protection Program participants; formal presentations made to the Committee; open-mic sessions at Committee meetings where the public was invited to share their thoughts; written comments submitted to the Committee; and countless conference calls. With respect to in-person engagements, the Committee held four formal public meetings in the watershed region, each accompanied by full-day field trips to observe various watershed protection programs in action, including the Watershed Agricultural Program (twice)
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From page 25... ...
2018. Review of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection Operations Support Tool for Water Supply.
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