Intro. No. 626 / 2005
Committee Staff:
Richard Col�n, Policy Analyst
Donna De Costanzo, Counsel
Veronica McNeil, Finance
Jonathan Rosenberg, Finance
Maria Alvarado, Communications
The New York City Council
Committee on Environmental Protection
James F. Gennaro, Chair
Infrastructure Division
Marcel Van Ooyen, deputy chief-of-staff and legislative director
May 17, 2005
Int. No. 626: By Council Members Gennaro, The Speaker (Council Member Miller), Avella, Barron, Boyland, Clarke, Comrie, Fidler, Gerson, Gonzalez, James, Koppell, McMahon, Monserrate, Nelson, Palma, Recchia Jr. and Weprin
Title: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to protecting the purity of the New York city drinking water supply and the security of its water supply infrastructure.
On May 17, 2005, the Committee on Environmental Protection, chaired by Council Member James Gennaro, will consider Int. No. 626, relating to protecting the purity of the New York City drinking water supply and the security of its water supply infrastructure.
I. Background
Long-range planning by City officials, going back as far as 1842 when the City�s first upstate reservoir was placed into service, has provided New Yorkers with a high quality drinking water system, which today supplies roughly 1.2 billion gallons a day to 8 million New York City residents, 1 million people residing in Westchester, Putnam, Orange and Ulster counties, as well as millions of tourists and commuters visiting the City throughout the year.[1]
The water supply system has a storage capacity of 550 billion gallons, and a distribution system that is made up of an extensive grid of water mains stretching approximately 6,600 miles in total length.[2] In addition to the 1.2 billion gallons of drinking water that is delivered each day from the City�s upstate surface water systems, an average of 33 million gallons per day is drawn from wells located in southeast Queens.[3] The City�s surface (reservoir) water supply is primarily delivered from nineteen reservoirs (19) and three (3) controlled lakes within a 1,972 square-mile watershed, approximately the size of the State of Delaware,[4] which extends 125 miles north and west of the City.[5] This large watershed is comprised of two distinct sections - �West of Hudson�, also known as the Catskill/Delaware Watershed, and �East of Hudson�, also known as the Croton Watershed. The Catskill/Delaware System, located in Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan, and Ulster counties, provides approximately 90% of the City�s surface water supply on a regular basis, while the Croton System, which includes twelve (12) reservoir basins in Putnam, Westchester, and Dutchess counties, and three (3) controlled lakes, and spans 375 square miles, regularly supplies the remaining 10%.[6]
The City�s water distribution infrastructure consists of two (2) distribution reservoirs (Jerome Park Reservoir in the Bronx and Hillview Reservoir in Yonkers), three (3) major in-city water tunnels, eight (8) drinking water pumping stations, forty-five (45) groundwater wells, the world�s two largest underground storage tanks and around 6,890 miles of water main.[7] Unlike other public water systems, �the City�s Water System is both economical and flexible.�[8] �The water flows to New York City through aqueducts, and 97 percent reaches homes and businesses through gravity alone; only 3 percent must be pumped to its final destination.�[9] Due to this fact, operating costs are relatively independent of power costs.
Protection of the watersheds that feed the City�s reservoirs is critical in order to ensure a safe and healthy supply and is a fundamental responsibility of City government. The New York City drinking water supply system constitutes one of the City�s most valuable capital assets.
II. Current Security Measures of the DEP
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (�DEP�) is charged with the responsibility of protecting and operating the water supply system of these reservoirs, 400 miles of aqueducts and numerous chambers and facilities that supply the City�s drinking water. To meet its responsibility in protecting the water supply, the DEP has in place a police division, with patrol officers having full law enforcement powers[10], frequently referred to as the Watershed Police. This division works with the Bureau of Water Supply�s Protection Unit (under Operations and Engineering), DEP Legal Affairs, the New York City Law Department and State and local police and law enforcement agencies to protect the watersheds. The DEP police division is divided into two units, the Patrol Unit and the Environmental Enforcement Unit. The Patrol Unit of uniformed officers monitors activities in and around the reservoirs, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, working out of seven precincts. The Environmental Enforcement Unit is responsible for enforcing watershed regulations and conducting environmental crime investigations.
As a part of its overall effort to increase security, DEP opened five new precincts and a training center, bringing state-of-the-art technology to environmental policing.[11] In November of 2002, the DEP created the Environmental Police Academy, with classrooms, an environmental investigations practical training field, off-road emergency courses and police firing ranges. Recruits for the DEP police take the same written, physical and psychological tests and undergo the same background check as New York Police Department candidates, followed by 1,000 hours of training � in environmental law, the study of the water supply�s infrastructure and counter terrorism, among other issues. According to an April 15, 2004 report in The Journal News of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, since 2002, the size of the DEP police has increased from 75 to 219.[12] However, on March 11, 2005, DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd testified at a hearing on the Mayor�s Preliminary Budget that the �DEP Police force is budgeted for 188 police officers and 23 positions for management, analytical and support.�[13] According to Commissioner Lloyd, as of the end of January 2005, �there were 173 DEP Police Officers on board.�[14] DEP officers supplement local police in day-to-day public protection and community service, and consult regularly with local, state and federal authorities in threat evaluation.[15]
Of late, there have been several articles in the press criticizing the lack of security provided at the City�s critical water supply structures. According to these news stories, some of the key elements that need to be addressed include the huge responsibilities placed on the shoulders of the DEP�s small police force that has previously been plagued by low staffing, high turnover, poor morale and lack of equipment.[16]
In addition, in accordance with federal and state legislation, a complete vulnerability assessment has been conducted of the entire water system by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (�Corps�).[17] The Corps conducted a study of the New York City Watershed in 1998 and updated its assessments after September 11th. The most recent assessment concluded that the watershed is so vast � almost 2,000 square miles of reservoirs, aqueducts, rivers, streams, and wetlands � that due to dilution, it would be quite difficult to contaminate.[18] Nonetheless, the Corps believed that new measures were still very necessary to �harden� the Watershed�s security.[19] The DEP continues to spend millions to implement those recommendations.
III. Land Acquisition and Regulatory Background
On June 29, 1989, pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated the Surface Water Treatment Rule (�SWTR�) to protect drinking water sources. The SWTR is codified at 40 Code of Federal Regulations (�CFR�), Subpart H, Part 141. These rules require that all surface drinking water sources, such as New York City�s, meet objective, �stringent water quality, disinfection and site-specific avoidance criteria� or be filtered.[20] On December 16, 1998, pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, the EPA amended the SWTR with the Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (�IESWTR�), which is set forth at 40 C.F.R. Part 141, Subpart P. The IESWTR mandated that unfiltered systems meet several new provisions to remain as such, including provisions that protect against microbial contaminants, such as Cryptosporidium, in drinking water supplies. New York City�s Catskill/Delaware system must comply with the criteria of both the SWTR and the IESWTR in order to avoid filtration. The EPA has primary enforcement authority to ensure that these requirements are met.[21]
In July 1992, the DEP submitted an application to the EPA to avoid filtration of its Catskill/Delaware water system. The EPA concluded that this system met the objective criteria for filtration avoidance and issued the first Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD) for this system in January 1993. In December 1993, EPA issued a second conditional FAD for the Catskill/Delaware system, which was intended to be effective until a further determination was made in December 1996. By 1995, however, many of the conditions of the 1993 FAD had not been implemented, since the City�s Watershed Protection Plan had resulted in a great deal of controversy and lawsuits brought by upstate communities. In order to end the litigation and reach a consensus, the watershed stakeholders were brought together to negotiate an agreement.
On January 21, 1997, New York State, the City of New York, the Coalition of Watershed Towns[22] and representatives from Riverkeeper, the New York Public Interest Research Group (�NYPIRG�), the Trust for Public Land, the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development and the Open Space Institute signed the Watershed Memorandum of Agreement (�MOA�), which serves as the legal mechanism through which the DEP�s watershed protection plan is implemented. The MOA�s principal elements involve land acquisition and stewardship programs, watershed protection and partnership programs and new watershed regulations.[23] The EPA issued a four-month interim FAD on the date of the MOA�s signature, followed by a FAD in May 1997 (�1997 FAD�), which was to remain in place until a further determination regarding filtration avoidance was to be made in April 2002.
In May 2000, the EPA conducted a mid-course review of the 1997 FAD to ascertain the progress that the City had made in meeting the conditions of that document. The review indicated that, although the City had made significant progress in terms of meeting the 1997 FAD conditions, the City needed to increase its efforts with respect to land acquisition around the Kensico Reservoir and non-City owned wastewater treatment plant upgrades.[24] According to the 2002 FAD, the City has made significant progress in addressing these shortcomings.[25]
On December 15, 2001, the DEP submitted to the EPA New York City's 2001 Watershed Protection Program Summary, Assessment and Long-term Plan (�2001 Watershed Plan�). According to the DEP�s website, the 2001 Watershed Plan satisfies the MOA requirement that �the City provide a written evaluation of its performance in implementing the MOA, with recommendations for needed improvements,� and it serves as �the City's long-term plan for watershed protection and application for an extension of the [1997 FAD]�.[26] The 2001 Watershed Plan details the City�s strategy to expand existing programs set forth in the 1997 FAD and implement new initiatives, as well.
A. 2002 Filtration Avoidance Determination
The 2002 FAD, issued by the EPA in November 2002, outlines the elements of the City�s 2001 Watershed Plan and sets forth deadlines by which certain program goals must be met. According to the document, the EPA and the New York State Department of Health (�NYSDOH�) will conduct a review of the City�s implementation of and compliance with the 2002 FAD by July 2006.[27] In order for the City to continue to avoid filtration of the Catskill/Delaware water supply, the City must fully implement its 2001 Watershed Plan, with any modifications and additions to that Plan that are detailed in the 2002 FAD, and continue to comply with the objective filtration avoidance criteria, set forth at 40 C.F.R. �� 141.71 and 141.171. The following is a description of the land acquisition and stewardship program that constitutes part of the 2001 Watershed Plan and forms a basis for the 2002 FAD.
B. Land Acquisition and Stewardship Program
One of the main purposes of the Land Acquisition and Stewardship Program is to protect water quality through the City�s purchase of land in sensitive areas throughout the watershed, by providing a buffer zone and managing uses on the land. To that end, the DEP has, in recent years, advanced a successful watershed land acquisition program, which has protected by fee simple purchase or easement approximately 60,000 acres since 1997. However, the total amount of watershed lands owned and easements obtained by New York City equals only about 100,000 acres, or 10% of the Catskill and Delaware watersheds. Even when state, local, and private land trust holdings are added in, the total protected acreage equals about 30% of New York�s Catskill and Delaware
system watershed lands � a much lower percentage than that protected by the five other large municipal unfiltered water supplies in the United States � San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Oregon and Boston.
In accordance with the MOA, the City must solicit owners of 355,050 acres of eligible land in the Catskill/Delaware and Croton watersheds over a ten-year period and must commit from $250 to $300 million for the purchase of this land.
The City is able to advance toward accomplishing this goal through a ten-year land acquisition permit issued in 1997 to the City by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (�NYSDEC�)[28]. The MOA provides also that the City will make fair market value offers to acquire the land or to purchase a conservation easement[29] on the land, although there is no requirement that the City actually purchase a certain amount of property.
The 2002 FAD also requires that the City proceed to acquire an interest in land upon receipt of a positive response from a landowner to the City�s solicitation, unless the EPA determines, upon petition by the City, that the cost of the property is disproportionate to the property�s water quality benefits.[30]
The Council believes that it is essential for New York City to renew and aggressively advance its willing-buyer, willing-seller land acquisition program for at least ten additional years. Moreover, it is the Council�s hope that a continuation of the City�s land acquisition program, will be matched by significant additional land acquisition efforts by State agencies, local governments and private land trusts, so that over the long term, total lands secured in the Catskill and Delaware watersheds will climb closer to the levels of protection afforded to watersheds of all other major unfiltered water supplies in the country.
IV. Conclusion
If New York City were required to filter its Catskill and Delaware system water supplies, it is estimated by the DEP that the capital costs alone would exceed 6 billion dollars, with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in debt service and operating costs. As previously stated, since 1993, the City has received filtration avoidance waivers from the EPA pursuant to provisions of the SDWA. New York City�s current filtration avoidance waiver expires in 2007, and under its terms, the DEP is required, among other things, to develop a revised watershed protection program and submit it to the EPA by December 2006.
The intent of Int. No. 626 is to insure that the DEP�s post-2007 watershed protection efforts will build upon and enhance the Department�s on-going watershed protection program, so as to increase the likelihood that the City will continue to secure a filtration avoidance waiver from the EPA for the Catskill and Delaware systems. This legislation is not intended to prescribe the full set of measures and strategies that will need to be included in the City�s 2006 watershed protection program, but rather to highlight several critical measures that the Council believes must be implemented as part of the City�s overall approach.
The Council believes that taking the steps that this legislation directs, when combined with other strategies advanced by the City and/or required by the EPA, will help to protect the City�s irreplaceable reservoirs and watershed lands for future generations, to strengthen the partnership between New York City and watershed communities and to stave off water rate increases that would otherwise be necessary if the city were required to install costly filtration facilities for the Catskill and Delaware water systems.
V. Analysis of Int. No. 626
Section one of Int. No. 626 sets forth the Declaration of Legislative Findings and Intent.
Section two of Int. No. 626 amends chapter three of Title 24 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York by adding a new subchapter five (sections 24-366 through 24-371), which would be known as The New York City Water Supply Protection Act.
New section 24-366 sets forth the short title of the subchapter, mentioned above.
New section 24-367 includes definitions for the terms, �Catskill/Delaware Watershed�, �Croton Watershed�, �Catskill and Delaware Water Supply System� and �2006 Watershed Protection Program�.
New section 24-368 sets forth watershed protection goals and activities. Subdivision (a) of that section would require the Commissioner of Environmental Protection to establish a goal of acquiring fee simple ownership or conservation easements for at least 75,000 acres within the Catskill/Delaware Watershed between 2007 and 2017. In order to help accomplish that goal, the Commissioner shall continue the DEP�s willing buyer/willing seller land acquisition program for the Watershed at least at the 2005 level of operation; make good-faith efforts to acquire fee simple ownership or conservation easements totaling at least 7,500 acres per year in the Catskill/Delaware Watershed; take greater advantage of cost-effective conservation easements in fulfilling the new watershed land goals; and, include the ten-year and annual land and easement acquisition goals in the DEP�s 2006 Watershed Protection Program, prepare any land acquisition permit requests as may be necessary and deposit funds as necessary into the segregated land acquisition program funding account.
Subdivision (b) would require that the DEP vigorously pursue land acquisition efforts in the Croton Watershed and that it recommend an allocation of funds necessary for such acquisition, to be used to match funds allocated by governments within the Catskill/Delaware Watershed or any land trust or other private entity in acquiring watershed parcels of particular importance for watershed protection.
Subdivision (c) would require that the Commissioner of Environmental Protection implement land management plans for land acquired subsequent to the effective date of new section 24-368, which shall be sensitive to the benefits of allowing expanded recreational opportunities, provided that such activities are compatible with watershed and water quality protection.
New section 24-369 would require that, not later than January 15, 2006 and every January 15th thereafter, the Commissioner shall submit a report to the Mayor and the Speaker of the Council describing the DEP�s current and projected staffing levels for its Watershed Police force and an assessment as to whether such staffing levels are sufficient to meet the challenges and duties of such force and if not, steps the DEP will take to make sure adequate staffing levels are achieved; outlining the DEP�s police personnel salary and benefit package, with comparable information for other police personnel in the Catskill/Delaware Watershed area, and describing what steps the DEP will take to ensure that the watershed police receive comparable salary and benefits to those performing similar roles within the Catskill/Delaware Watershed; and, describing internal and external communications systems used by the DEP�s watershed police and outlining steps the DEP will take to enhance radio and wireless telephone communications within the watershed police force and among other law enforcement agencies.
New section 24-370 sets forth requirements regarding the DEP�s 2006 Watershed Protection Program document, which is the revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program that must be prepared by the DEP and submitted to the EPA in December 2006, pursuant to the City�s November 2002 Filtration Avoidance Determination for the Catskill/Delaware Watershed. Subdivision (a) of that section would require that the DEP submit such document to the Council for its review and recommendations, which shall be incorporated into the final document to be submitted to the EPA.
Subdivision (b) of such section would require that the 2006 Watershed Protection Program be presented in draft form to the Council no later than September 14, 2006, at which point the Council may hold public hearings on the draft document and shall assess such document for consistency with the specific directives and legislative intent of new subchapter five of chapter three of Title 24.
Subdivision (c) of that section would require that the Council submit a written evaluation of the draft 2006 Watershed Protection Program to the DEP no later than October 28, 2006, which may recommend revisions or modifications to such document.
Subdivision (d) of that section would require that the DEP incorporate the revisions or modifications to the draft 2006 Watershed Protection Program recommended by the Council or add to the body of such document a detailed explanation as to why the Council�s recommendations have not been incorporated. In the event the Commissioner of Environmental Protection does not incorporate all of the Council�s recommendations into the final 2006 Watershed Protection Program, such document shall include the Council�s written evaluation, in its entirety, as an appendix.
New section 24-371 sets forth reporting requirements and would require that, no later than October 1, 2008, and no later than October 1 of each year thereafter, the Commissioner of Environmental Protection submit an annual report to the mayor and the Speaker of the Council regarding progress made during the reporting period and since June 30, 2007, in achieving the goals established by new subchapter five of chapter three of Title 24 of the Administrative Code.
Section three of Int. No. 626 contains a severability clause.
Section four of Int. No. 626 provides that such local law shall take effect immediately.
Int. No. 626
By Council Members Gennaro, The Speaker (Council Member Miller), Avella, Barron, Boyland, Clarke, Comrie, Fidler, Gerson, Gonzalez, James, Koppell, McMahon, Monserrate, Nelson, Palma, Recchia Jr. and Weprin
..Title
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to protecting the purity of the New York city drinking water supply and the security of its water supply infrastructure.
..Body
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1 Declaration of Legislative Findings and Intent. The Council finds that providing clean, safe drinking water to all residents and visitors is a fundamental responsibility of city government and that the New York City drinking water supply, and in particular its nineteen upstate reservoirs, constitutes one of the city�s most valuable capital assets.
Long-range planning by City officials, going back as far as 1842 when the City�s first upstate reservoir was placed into service, has provided New Yorkers with a high quality drinking water system, which today supplies roughly 1.2 billion gallons a day to New York City residents and visitors.
The Council recognizes that water supplied by the six large West-of-Hudson reservoirs that make up the city�s Catskill and Delaware system remains unfiltered, and thus will continue to be vulnerable to pollution from such sources as sewage and stormwater runoff generated by development on watershed lands, which drain into the rivers and streams that feed these reservoirs.
The acquisition of watershed lands and the preservation of these lands as forests, meadows and wetlands has been recognized by the American Water Works Association, the National Research Council, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other independent water experts as one of the most important strategies for safeguarding unfiltered drinking water supplies like New York City�s.
New York City�s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has, in recent years, advanced a successful watershed land acquisition program, which has protected by fee simple purchase or easement approximately 60,000 acres since 1997. However, the total amount of watershed lands owned and easements obtained by New York City equals only about 100,000 acres, or 10% of the Catskill and Delaware watersheds. Even when state, local, and private land trust holdings are added in, the total protected acreage equals about 30% of New York�s Catskill and Delaware system watershed lands � a much lower percentage than that protected by the five other large municipal unfiltered water supplies in the United States � San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Oregon and Boston.
The Council believes that it is essential for New York City to renew and aggressively advance its willing-buyer, willing-seller land acquisition program for at least ten additional years. Moreover, it is the Council�s hope that a continuation of the City�s land acquisition program, will be matched by significant additional land acquisition efforts by State agencies, local governments and private land trusts, so that over the long term, total lands secured in the Catskill and Delaware watersheds will climb closer to the levels of protection afforded to watersheds of all other major unfiltered water supplies in the country.
The Council also finds that policing the City�s reservoirs, dams and other water supply infrastructure, as well as watershed lands, and protecting them from wide-ranging threats, including pollution, vandalism and terrorist attack, must continue as a high priority. DEP�s Police Force should be enhanced and supported so that it has all of the necessary capabilities and resources to fulfill these important responsibilities, while at the same time serving as a good neighbor to the watershed communities.
In addition, the Council recognizes that it can better fulfill its responsibility to New York City water consumers and ratepayers by assuming a greater role in reviewing the Department of Environmental Protection�s revised Long-Term Watershed Land Protection Program document, to be submitted by the City to the United States environmental protection agency in 2006.
The Council further recognizes that an essential element in safeguarding the City�s drinking water supply is to continue and strengthen the water quality-based partnership between the City of New York and the communities whose watershed lands drain into City reservoirs. The Council believes that the City�s watershed protection initiatives should continue to be advanced in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation between New York City and the watershed communities, and in a manner that allows for continued economic vitality for watershed residents.
Finally, the Council is aware of the financial burdens that rising water and sewer rates have on New York City property owners, and is therefore committed to minimizing future water and sewer rate increases to the maximum practicable extent. Significantly, advancing the watershed protection measures set forth in this legislation can help mitigate against future water rate increases. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and its implementing regulations require that all public water providers with surface water supplies like New York City must filter their water to protect against microbiological contamination and other health threats, unless the water consistently achieves water quality standards and the water provider is implementing a comprehensive watershed protection plan that satisfies applicable federal regulations. Fortunately, New York City is today achieving these drinking water quality standards. But the City must also continue to demonstrate through ownership or written agreements with landowners in the watershed, or a combination of both, that it controls all human activities that may have an adverse effect on the microbiological quality of the source water.
If New York City were required to filter its Catskill and Delaware system water supplies, it is estimated by the department of environmental protection that the capital costs alone would exceed 6 billion dollars, with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in debt service and operating costs. Since 1993, the City has received filtration avoidance waivers from the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to provisions of the SDWA. New York City�s current filtration avoidance waiver expires in 2007, and under its terms, the DEP is required, among other things, to develop a revised watershed protection program and submit it to the EPA by December 2006.
The intent of this legislation is to insure that the DEP�s post-2007 watershed protection efforts will build upon and enhance the Department�s on-going watershed protection program, so as to increase the likelihood that the City will continue to secure a filtration avoidance waiver from the EPA for the Catskill and Delaware systems. This legislation is not intended to prescribe the full set of measures and strategies that will need to be included in the City�s 2006 watershed protection program, but rather to highlight several critical measures that the Council believes must be implemented as part of the City�s overall approach.
The Council believes that taking the steps that this legislation directs, when combined with other strategies advanced by the City and/or required by the EPA, will help to protect the City�s irreplaceable reservoirs and watershed lands for future generations, to strengthen the partnership between New York City and watershed communities and to stave off water rate hikes that would otherwise be necessary if the city were required to install costly filtration facilities for the Catskill and Delaware water systems.
�2. Chapter three of title 24 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding thereto a new subchapter 5, to read as follows:
Subchapter 5. The New York City Water Supply Protection Act.
� 24-366. Short title.
� 24-367. Definitions.
� 24-368. Watershed land protection goals and activities.
� 24-369. Water supply security report.
� 24-370. Watershed protection program document
� 24-371. Annual Report
� 24-366 Short Title. This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the �New York City water supply protection act�.
�24-367 Definitions. For the purposes of this subchapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) �Catskill/Delaware Watershed� means the drainage basins of New York city�s ashokan, cannonsville, kensico, neversink, pepacton, rondout, schoharie, and west branch/boyd�s corner reservoirs.
(2) �Croton Watershed� means the drainage basins of New York city�s amawalk, bog brook, cross river, croton falls, diverting, east branch, middle branch, muscoot, new croton, and titicus reservoirs, as well as of kirk lake, lake gleneida and lake gilead.
(3) "Catskill and Delaware Water Supply System" means the catskill/delaware watershed and the tunnels, dams and aqueducts which are part of and connect the reservoirs that constitute the catskill/delaware watershed.
(4) �2006 Watershed Protection Program� means the revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program that must be prepared by the commissioner and submitted to the United States environmental protection agency in December 2006, pursuant to agency�s November 2002 New York City Filtration Avoidance Determination and setting forth New York city�s commitments and milestones that will be the basis for the agency�s 2007 determination regarding whether and under what conditions to renew the city�s filtration avoidance waiver for the catskill and delaware water supply system.
�24-368 Watershed land protection goals and activities. a. The commissioner shall establish a goal of acquiring fee simple ownership or conservation easements for at least seventy-five thousand acres within the catskill/delaware watershed during the period from 2007 to 2017. To help accomplish this goal, the commissioner shall:
(1) Continue the department�s willing-buyer/willing seller watershed land acquisition program for the catskill/delaware watersheds at least at the 2005 level of operation;
(2) Make good-faith efforts to acquire fee simple ownership or conservation easements totaling at least seven thousand five hundred acres per year in the catskill/delaware watershed during that period;
(3) Take greater advantage of cost-effective conservation easements in fulfilling the new watershed land goals set forth in this section; and
(4) Include the ten-year and annual land and easement acquisition goals in the department�s 2006 watershed protection program, prepare any land acquisition permit requests as may be necessary and deposit funds as necessary into the segregated land acquisition program funding account, established pursuant to the 1997 United States environmental protection agency filtration avoidance determination for the catskill/delaware water supply system.
b. In addition to the catskill/delaware watershed land and easement acquisition measures described in subdivision a of this section, the department shall continue to vigorously pursue watershed protection and land acquisition efforts in the croton watershed. To this end, the department shall recommend an allocation of funds necessary for land and easement acquisition in the croton watershed, to be used to match funds allocated by county and local governments within the catskill/delaware watershed or any land trust or other private entity in acquiring watershed parcels of particular importance to water quality protection.
c. For all acquired lands subsequent to the effective date of this section, the commissioner shall develop and implement land management plans that, among other things, are sensitive to the benefits of allowing expanded recreational opportunities on these lands provided such activities are compatible with watershed and water quality protection.
�24-369 Watershed and water infrastructure security report. (a) The commissioner shall continue and enhance the department�s on-going efforts to safeguard the city�s reservoirs, watershed lands and water supply infrastructure from potential threats that might compromise the quality or quantity of the city�s drinking water supply, including point and non-point pollution discharges, vandalism, or terrorist attack. To that end, and so that the DEP police force is sufficiently staffed and equipped to respond to emergencies not later than January 15, 2006 and every January 15 thereafter, commissioner shall submit a report to the mayor and the speaker of the Council: (a) describing the department�s current and projected staffing levels for its watershed police force and an assessment as to whether such current and projected staffing levels are fully sufficient to meet the multiple challenges and increasing duties of this force, and if not, the steps that the department will take to assure that necessary police staffing levels are achieved; (b) outlining the department�s current police personnel salary and benefit package, presenting comparable information for persons serving as public safety or police officers with other agencies or departments within the catskill/delaware watershed area, and describing what steps the department will take in order that department police personnel receive comparable salary and benefits to those personnel performing similar roles within the catskill/delaware watershed; and (c) describing the internal and external communications systems used by the department�s police personnel within the watershed and outlining the steps the department will take for enhancing radio and wireless telephone communications both within the department�s police force and among the department police and other law enforcement agencies.
�24-370 2006 Watershed Protection Program document. (a) Prior to its being submitted to the United States environmental protection agency pursuant to the agency�s November 2002 New York City Filtration Avoidance Determination, the city�s revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program document shall be submitted to the council for its review and recommendations and such recommendations shall be incorporated into the final document to be submitted to the agency, as set forth in subdivisions b, c, and d of this section.
(b) A revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program document which is to be
submitted by the city the United States environmental protection agency in final form by December 14, 2006, pursuant to the agency�s November 2002 New York City Filtration Avoidance Determination, shall be presented in draft form to the council no later than September 14, 2006. The council may hold public hearings on the draft document and shall assess the draft document for consistency with the specific directives and legislative
intent of this statute and with requirements under federal and state law.
(c) The council shall no later than October 28, 2006 prepare and submit to the
department a written evaluation, which may recommend revisions or modifications to the city�s draft revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program document.
(d) In fulfilling its requirement to present a final revised Long-Term Watershed
Protection program document to the United States environmental protection agency no later than December 14, 2006, the commissioner shall not submit such document to the agency unless the department has either incorporated the revisions or modifications recommended by the council or added to the body of such document a detailed explanation as to why the council�s recommendations have not been so incorporated. In the event that the commissioner elects not incorporate all of thecouncil�s recommended revisions or modifications into the final revised Long- Term Watershed Protection Program document, it shall, in addition to providing the detailed explanation discussed above, include the council�s writtenevaluation in its entirety as an appendix to such document.
�24-371 Annual Reporting. (a) No later than October 1, 2008, and every October 1 thereafter, the commissioner shall submit a report to the mayor and the speaker of the council regarding progress made during the reporting period and since June 30, 2007, in achieving the goals establish by this subchapter. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, specific information regarding:
(1) Acreage acquired in the catskill/delaware watershed through fee simple ownership and conservation easement;
(2) Steps taken to continue the department�s willing-buyer/willing-seller Watershed Land Acquisition Program for the Catskill and Delaware watersheds in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter;
(3) A description of good-faith efforts made to acquire fee simple ownership or conservation easements totaling at least seven thousand five hundred0 acres per year;
(4) Funds deposited into the segregated land acquisition program funding account;
(5) Status of developing and implementing land management plans for newly acquired lands; and
(6) Status of staffing, salary and benefit levels, staff retention and enhanced communications for department police personnel.
�3. Severability clause. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or other portion of this local law is, for any reason, declared unconstitutional or invalid, in whole or in part, by any court of competent jurisdiction such portion shall be deemed severable, and such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this law, which remaining portions shall continue in full force and effect.
�4. This local law shall take effect immediately.
JH
4/18/05 10:30 am
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[1] Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report (2003) NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
[2] Alan L. Anders, Executive Director of the NYC Municipal Water Finance Authority, at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/aboutus.html (�MWFA website�).
[3] New York City Water Board �Public Information Regarding Water and Wastewater Rates�, April 2003 (�April 2003 Booklet�), p. 29.
[4] The City of New York � Department of Environmental Protection, Education Information, �Celebrating New York City�s Clean Drinking Water� (�Celebrating Clean Drinking Water�), p. 3.
[5] 2001 Annual Water Quality Report�, Report by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (�2001 Water Quality Report�), p. 2; http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/wsstato1a.pdf.
[6] 2001 Water Quality Report at 2.
[7] Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report (2003) NYC DEP.
[8] April 2003 Booklet at 29.
[9] Celebrating Clean Drinking Water at 3.
[10] The officers have jurisdiction in the eight upstate counties that make up the watershed, according to a 1983 Act by the State Legislature, and in the city � Risinit, Michael. �DEP Police expands for post-9/11 world�, Journal News, April 15, 2004.
[11] The five new precincts are located in the towns of Grahamsville, Olive, Beerston, (Town of Walton), Gilboa and Downsville. The new training center, the Stephen J. King Environmental Police Training facility, is located in the Town of Walton, Delaware County.
[12] Risinit, Michael. �DEP Police expands for post-9/11 world�, Journal News, April 15, 2004.
[13] Testimony of Emily Lloyd, Commissioner, New York City Department of Environmental Protection at a Hearing of the New York City Council Committees on Environmental Protection and Finance, Fiscal Year 2006 Preliminary Budget, City Hall, Committee Room, March 11, 2005, p. 6.
[14] Id.
[15] DEP press release: Department of Environmental Protection Opening Five New Police Precincts Upstate to Better Protect The City�s Water Supply, Dec 11, 2003.
[16] �Beefing up the department charged with protecting our water supply� 7-online.com, November 14, 2002.
[17] The federal legislation refers to the Bio-terrorism Act of 2002 and the state legislation refers to Public Health Law � 1125.
[18] Sargent, Greg. �On high alert, city water boss hops to action� � NY Observer, May 30, 2002
[19] Id.
[20] New York City Filtration Avoidance Determination, USEPA - November 2002, Surface Water Treatment Rule Determination for New York City�s Catskill/Delaware Water Supply System (�2002 FAD�), p. 2.
[21] The EPA delegated primary enforcement authority to the New York State Department of Health (�NYSDOH�) for the SWTR for all public water systems in New York State, except for the Catskill/Delaware system. The SWTR will be delegated to the NYSDOH for the Catskill/Delaware system in May 2007. The NYSDOH has not yet applied for delegation of the IESWTR. Id. at 3.
[22] The Coalition of Watershed Towns is an organization representing 34 towns, nine villages and five counties located west of the Hudson River.
[23] http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dep/html/agreement.htm.
[24] 2002 FAD, p. 5.
[25] �Since May 2000, [DEP] has acquired, or obtained conservation easements on, over 150 acres of land in Kensico basin and is continuing to focus substantial efforts on future acquisitions. In addition, the City has significantly sped up the pace of its wastewater treatment plant upgrade program. A total of six facilities (including four of the largest dischargers), which account for over 80% of the flow from non-City-owned plants, were upgraded and began operation in August 2002.� Id.
[26] http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dep/html/fadplan.html.
[27] 2002 FAD, p. 1.
[28] New York City�s Water Supply System, Watershed Agreement Overview, The City of New York Department of Environmental Protection, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/agreement.html, p. 5.
[29] �In exchange for selling certain development rights to the DEP, landowners receive tangible economic benefits: a one-time lump sum cash payment and lower property taxes.� http://NYC.gov/html/dep/html/news/depnewsframeset.html.
[30] Id. at 30.
Donna De Costanzo, Counsel
Veronica McNeil, Finance
Jonathan Rosenberg, Finance
Maria Alvarado, Communications
The New York City Council
Committee on Environmental Protection
James F. Gennaro, Chair
Infrastructure Division
Marcel Van Ooyen, deputy chief-of-staff and legislative director
May 17, 2005
Int. No. 626: By Council Members Gennaro, The Speaker (Council Member Miller), Avella, Barron, Boyland, Clarke, Comrie, Fidler, Gerson, Gonzalez, James, Koppell, McMahon, Monserrate, Nelson, Palma, Recchia Jr. and Weprin
Title: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to protecting the purity of the New York city drinking water supply and the security of its water supply infrastructure.
On May 17, 2005, the Committee on Environmental Protection, chaired by Council Member James Gennaro, will consider Int. No. 626, relating to protecting the purity of the New York City drinking water supply and the security of its water supply infrastructure.
I. Background
Long-range planning by City officials, going back as far as 1842 when the City�s first upstate reservoir was placed into service, has provided New Yorkers with a high quality drinking water system, which today supplies roughly 1.2 billion gallons a day to 8 million New York City residents, 1 million people residing in Westchester, Putnam, Orange and Ulster counties, as well as millions of tourists and commuters visiting the City throughout the year.[1]
The water supply system has a storage capacity of 550 billion gallons, and a distribution system that is made up of an extensive grid of water mains stretching approximately 6,600 miles in total length.[2] In addition to the 1.2 billion gallons of drinking water that is delivered each day from the City�s upstate surface water systems, an average of 33 million gallons per day is drawn from wells located in southeast Queens.[3] The City�s surface (reservoir) water supply is primarily delivered from nineteen reservoirs (19) and three (3) controlled lakes within a 1,972 square-mile watershed, approximately the size of the State of Delaware,[4] which extends 125 miles north and west of the City.[5] This large watershed is comprised of two distinct sections - �West of Hudson�, also known as the Catskill/Delaware Watershed, and �East of Hudson�, also known as the Croton Watershed. The Catskill/Delaware System, located in Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan, and Ulster counties, provides approximately 90% of the City�s surface water supply on a regular basis, while the Croton System, which includes twelve (12) reservoir basins in Putnam, Westchester, and Dutchess counties, and three (3) controlled lakes, and spans 375 square miles, regularly supplies the remaining 10%.[6]
The City�s water distribution infrastructure consists of two (2) distribution reservoirs (Jerome Park Reservoir in the Bronx and Hillview Reservoir in Yonkers), three (3) major in-city water tunnels, eight (8) drinking water pumping stations, forty-five (45) groundwater wells, the world�s two largest underground storage tanks and around 6,890 miles of water main.[7] Unlike other public water systems, �the City�s Water System is both economical and flexible.�[8] �The water flows to New York City through aqueducts, and 97 percent reaches homes and businesses through gravity alone; only 3 percent must be pumped to its final destination.�[9] Due to this fact, operating costs are relatively independent of power costs.
Protection of the watersheds that feed the City�s reservoirs is critical in order to ensure a safe and healthy supply and is a fundamental responsibility of City government. The New York City drinking water supply system constitutes one of the City�s most valuable capital assets.
II. Current Security Measures of the DEP
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (�DEP�) is charged with the responsibility of protecting and operating the water supply system of these reservoirs, 400 miles of aqueducts and numerous chambers and facilities that supply the City�s drinking water. To meet its responsibility in protecting the water supply, the DEP has in place a police division, with patrol officers having full law enforcement powers[10], frequently referred to as the Watershed Police. This division works with the Bureau of Water Supply�s Protection Unit (under Operations and Engineering), DEP Legal Affairs, the New York City Law Department and State and local police and law enforcement agencies to protect the watersheds. The DEP police division is divided into two units, the Patrol Unit and the Environmental Enforcement Unit. The Patrol Unit of uniformed officers monitors activities in and around the reservoirs, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, working out of seven precincts. The Environmental Enforcement Unit is responsible for enforcing watershed regulations and conducting environmental crime investigations.
As a part of its overall effort to increase security, DEP opened five new precincts and a training center, bringing state-of-the-art technology to environmental policing.[11] In November of 2002, the DEP created the Environmental Police Academy, with classrooms, an environmental investigations practical training field, off-road emergency courses and police firing ranges. Recruits for the DEP police take the same written, physical and psychological tests and undergo the same background check as New York Police Department candidates, followed by 1,000 hours of training � in environmental law, the study of the water supply�s infrastructure and counter terrorism, among other issues. According to an April 15, 2004 report in The Journal News of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, since 2002, the size of the DEP police has increased from 75 to 219.[12] However, on March 11, 2005, DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd testified at a hearing on the Mayor�s Preliminary Budget that the �DEP Police force is budgeted for 188 police officers and 23 positions for management, analytical and support.�[13] According to Commissioner Lloyd, as of the end of January 2005, �there were 173 DEP Police Officers on board.�[14] DEP officers supplement local police in day-to-day public protection and community service, and consult regularly with local, state and federal authorities in threat evaluation.[15]
Of late, there have been several articles in the press criticizing the lack of security provided at the City�s critical water supply structures. According to these news stories, some of the key elements that need to be addressed include the huge responsibilities placed on the shoulders of the DEP�s small police force that has previously been plagued by low staffing, high turnover, poor morale and lack of equipment.[16]
In addition, in accordance with federal and state legislation, a complete vulnerability assessment has been conducted of the entire water system by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (�Corps�).[17] The Corps conducted a study of the New York City Watershed in 1998 and updated its assessments after September 11th. The most recent assessment concluded that the watershed is so vast � almost 2,000 square miles of reservoirs, aqueducts, rivers, streams, and wetlands � that due to dilution, it would be quite difficult to contaminate.[18] Nonetheless, the Corps believed that new measures were still very necessary to �harden� the Watershed�s security.[19] The DEP continues to spend millions to implement those recommendations.
III. Land Acquisition and Regulatory Background
On June 29, 1989, pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated the Surface Water Treatment Rule (�SWTR�) to protect drinking water sources. The SWTR is codified at 40 Code of Federal Regulations (�CFR�), Subpart H, Part 141. These rules require that all surface drinking water sources, such as New York City�s, meet objective, �stringent water quality, disinfection and site-specific avoidance criteria� or be filtered.[20] On December 16, 1998, pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, the EPA amended the SWTR with the Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (�IESWTR�), which is set forth at 40 C.F.R. Part 141, Subpart P. The IESWTR mandated that unfiltered systems meet several new provisions to remain as such, including provisions that protect against microbial contaminants, such as Cryptosporidium, in drinking water supplies. New York City�s Catskill/Delaware system must comply with the criteria of both the SWTR and the IESWTR in order to avoid filtration. The EPA has primary enforcement authority to ensure that these requirements are met.[21]
In July 1992, the DEP submitted an application to the EPA to avoid filtration of its Catskill/Delaware water system. The EPA concluded that this system met the objective criteria for filtration avoidance and issued the first Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD) for this system in January 1993. In December 1993, EPA issued a second conditional FAD for the Catskill/Delaware system, which was intended to be effective until a further determination was made in December 1996. By 1995, however, many of the conditions of the 1993 FAD had not been implemented, since the City�s Watershed Protection Plan had resulted in a great deal of controversy and lawsuits brought by upstate communities. In order to end the litigation and reach a consensus, the watershed stakeholders were brought together to negotiate an agreement.
On January 21, 1997, New York State, the City of New York, the Coalition of Watershed Towns[22] and representatives from Riverkeeper, the New York Public Interest Research Group (�NYPIRG�), the Trust for Public Land, the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development and the Open Space Institute signed the Watershed Memorandum of Agreement (�MOA�), which serves as the legal mechanism through which the DEP�s watershed protection plan is implemented. The MOA�s principal elements involve land acquisition and stewardship programs, watershed protection and partnership programs and new watershed regulations.[23] The EPA issued a four-month interim FAD on the date of the MOA�s signature, followed by a FAD in May 1997 (�1997 FAD�), which was to remain in place until a further determination regarding filtration avoidance was to be made in April 2002.
In May 2000, the EPA conducted a mid-course review of the 1997 FAD to ascertain the progress that the City had made in meeting the conditions of that document. The review indicated that, although the City had made significant progress in terms of meeting the 1997 FAD conditions, the City needed to increase its efforts with respect to land acquisition around the Kensico Reservoir and non-City owned wastewater treatment plant upgrades.[24] According to the 2002 FAD, the City has made significant progress in addressing these shortcomings.[25]
On December 15, 2001, the DEP submitted to the EPA New York City's 2001 Watershed Protection Program Summary, Assessment and Long-term Plan (�2001 Watershed Plan�). According to the DEP�s website, the 2001 Watershed Plan satisfies the MOA requirement that �the City provide a written evaluation of its performance in implementing the MOA, with recommendations for needed improvements,� and it serves as �the City's long-term plan for watershed protection and application for an extension of the [1997 FAD]�.[26] The 2001 Watershed Plan details the City�s strategy to expand existing programs set forth in the 1997 FAD and implement new initiatives, as well.
A. 2002 Filtration Avoidance Determination
The 2002 FAD, issued by the EPA in November 2002, outlines the elements of the City�s 2001 Watershed Plan and sets forth deadlines by which certain program goals must be met. According to the document, the EPA and the New York State Department of Health (�NYSDOH�) will conduct a review of the City�s implementation of and compliance with the 2002 FAD by July 2006.[27] In order for the City to continue to avoid filtration of the Catskill/Delaware water supply, the City must fully implement its 2001 Watershed Plan, with any modifications and additions to that Plan that are detailed in the 2002 FAD, and continue to comply with the objective filtration avoidance criteria, set forth at 40 C.F.R. �� 141.71 and 141.171. The following is a description of the land acquisition and stewardship program that constitutes part of the 2001 Watershed Plan and forms a basis for the 2002 FAD.
B. Land Acquisition and Stewardship Program
One of the main purposes of the Land Acquisition and Stewardship Program is to protect water quality through the City�s purchase of land in sensitive areas throughout the watershed, by providing a buffer zone and managing uses on the land. To that end, the DEP has, in recent years, advanced a successful watershed land acquisition program, which has protected by fee simple purchase or easement approximately 60,000 acres since 1997. However, the total amount of watershed lands owned and easements obtained by New York City equals only about 100,000 acres, or 10% of the Catskill and Delaware watersheds. Even when state, local, and private land trust holdings are added in, the total protected acreage equals about 30% of New York�s Catskill and Delaware
system watershed lands � a much lower percentage than that protected by the five other large municipal unfiltered water supplies in the United States � San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Oregon and Boston.
In accordance with the MOA, the City must solicit owners of 355,050 acres of eligible land in the Catskill/Delaware and Croton watersheds over a ten-year period and must commit from $250 to $300 million for the purchase of this land.
The City is able to advance toward accomplishing this goal through a ten-year land acquisition permit issued in 1997 to the City by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (�NYSDEC�)[28]. The MOA provides also that the City will make fair market value offers to acquire the land or to purchase a conservation easement[29] on the land, although there is no requirement that the City actually purchase a certain amount of property.
The 2002 FAD also requires that the City proceed to acquire an interest in land upon receipt of a positive response from a landowner to the City�s solicitation, unless the EPA determines, upon petition by the City, that the cost of the property is disproportionate to the property�s water quality benefits.[30]
The Council believes that it is essential for New York City to renew and aggressively advance its willing-buyer, willing-seller land acquisition program for at least ten additional years. Moreover, it is the Council�s hope that a continuation of the City�s land acquisition program, will be matched by significant additional land acquisition efforts by State agencies, local governments and private land trusts, so that over the long term, total lands secured in the Catskill and Delaware watersheds will climb closer to the levels of protection afforded to watersheds of all other major unfiltered water supplies in the country.
IV. Conclusion
If New York City were required to filter its Catskill and Delaware system water supplies, it is estimated by the DEP that the capital costs alone would exceed 6 billion dollars, with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in debt service and operating costs. As previously stated, since 1993, the City has received filtration avoidance waivers from the EPA pursuant to provisions of the SDWA. New York City�s current filtration avoidance waiver expires in 2007, and under its terms, the DEP is required, among other things, to develop a revised watershed protection program and submit it to the EPA by December 2006.
The intent of Int. No. 626 is to insure that the DEP�s post-2007 watershed protection efforts will build upon and enhance the Department�s on-going watershed protection program, so as to increase the likelihood that the City will continue to secure a filtration avoidance waiver from the EPA for the Catskill and Delaware systems. This legislation is not intended to prescribe the full set of measures and strategies that will need to be included in the City�s 2006 watershed protection program, but rather to highlight several critical measures that the Council believes must be implemented as part of the City�s overall approach.
The Council believes that taking the steps that this legislation directs, when combined with other strategies advanced by the City and/or required by the EPA, will help to protect the City�s irreplaceable reservoirs and watershed lands for future generations, to strengthen the partnership between New York City and watershed communities and to stave off water rate increases that would otherwise be necessary if the city were required to install costly filtration facilities for the Catskill and Delaware water systems.
V. Analysis of Int. No. 626
Section one of Int. No. 626 sets forth the Declaration of Legislative Findings and Intent.
Section two of Int. No. 626 amends chapter three of Title 24 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York by adding a new subchapter five (sections 24-366 through 24-371), which would be known as The New York City Water Supply Protection Act.
New section 24-366 sets forth the short title of the subchapter, mentioned above.
New section 24-367 includes definitions for the terms, �Catskill/Delaware Watershed�, �Croton Watershed�, �Catskill and Delaware Water Supply System� and �2006 Watershed Protection Program�.
New section 24-368 sets forth watershed protection goals and activities. Subdivision (a) of that section would require the Commissioner of Environmental Protection to establish a goal of acquiring fee simple ownership or conservation easements for at least 75,000 acres within the Catskill/Delaware Watershed between 2007 and 2017. In order to help accomplish that goal, the Commissioner shall continue the DEP�s willing buyer/willing seller land acquisition program for the Watershed at least at the 2005 level of operation; make good-faith efforts to acquire fee simple ownership or conservation easements totaling at least 7,500 acres per year in the Catskill/Delaware Watershed; take greater advantage of cost-effective conservation easements in fulfilling the new watershed land goals; and, include the ten-year and annual land and easement acquisition goals in the DEP�s 2006 Watershed Protection Program, prepare any land acquisition permit requests as may be necessary and deposit funds as necessary into the segregated land acquisition program funding account.
Subdivision (b) would require that the DEP vigorously pursue land acquisition efforts in the Croton Watershed and that it recommend an allocation of funds necessary for such acquisition, to be used to match funds allocated by governments within the Catskill/Delaware Watershed or any land trust or other private entity in acquiring watershed parcels of particular importance for watershed protection.
Subdivision (c) would require that the Commissioner of Environmental Protection implement land management plans for land acquired subsequent to the effective date of new section 24-368, which shall be sensitive to the benefits of allowing expanded recreational opportunities, provided that such activities are compatible with watershed and water quality protection.
New section 24-369 would require that, not later than January 15, 2006 and every January 15th thereafter, the Commissioner shall submit a report to the Mayor and the Speaker of the Council describing the DEP�s current and projected staffing levels for its Watershed Police force and an assessment as to whether such staffing levels are sufficient to meet the challenges and duties of such force and if not, steps the DEP will take to make sure adequate staffing levels are achieved; outlining the DEP�s police personnel salary and benefit package, with comparable information for other police personnel in the Catskill/Delaware Watershed area, and describing what steps the DEP will take to ensure that the watershed police receive comparable salary and benefits to those performing similar roles within the Catskill/Delaware Watershed; and, describing internal and external communications systems used by the DEP�s watershed police and outlining steps the DEP will take to enhance radio and wireless telephone communications within the watershed police force and among other law enforcement agencies.
New section 24-370 sets forth requirements regarding the DEP�s 2006 Watershed Protection Program document, which is the revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program that must be prepared by the DEP and submitted to the EPA in December 2006, pursuant to the City�s November 2002 Filtration Avoidance Determination for the Catskill/Delaware Watershed. Subdivision (a) of that section would require that the DEP submit such document to the Council for its review and recommendations, which shall be incorporated into the final document to be submitted to the EPA.
Subdivision (b) of such section would require that the 2006 Watershed Protection Program be presented in draft form to the Council no later than September 14, 2006, at which point the Council may hold public hearings on the draft document and shall assess such document for consistency with the specific directives and legislative intent of new subchapter five of chapter three of Title 24.
Subdivision (c) of that section would require that the Council submit a written evaluation of the draft 2006 Watershed Protection Program to the DEP no later than October 28, 2006, which may recommend revisions or modifications to such document.
Subdivision (d) of that section would require that the DEP incorporate the revisions or modifications to the draft 2006 Watershed Protection Program recommended by the Council or add to the body of such document a detailed explanation as to why the Council�s recommendations have not been incorporated. In the event the Commissioner of Environmental Protection does not incorporate all of the Council�s recommendations into the final 2006 Watershed Protection Program, such document shall include the Council�s written evaluation, in its entirety, as an appendix.
New section 24-371 sets forth reporting requirements and would require that, no later than October 1, 2008, and no later than October 1 of each year thereafter, the Commissioner of Environmental Protection submit an annual report to the mayor and the Speaker of the Council regarding progress made during the reporting period and since June 30, 2007, in achieving the goals established by new subchapter five of chapter three of Title 24 of the Administrative Code.
Section three of Int. No. 626 contains a severability clause.
Section four of Int. No. 626 provides that such local law shall take effect immediately.
Int. No. 626
By Council Members Gennaro, The Speaker (Council Member Miller), Avella, Barron, Boyland, Clarke, Comrie, Fidler, Gerson, Gonzalez, James, Koppell, McMahon, Monserrate, Nelson, Palma, Recchia Jr. and Weprin
..Title
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to protecting the purity of the New York city drinking water supply and the security of its water supply infrastructure.
..Body
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1 Declaration of Legislative Findings and Intent. The Council finds that providing clean, safe drinking water to all residents and visitors is a fundamental responsibility of city government and that the New York City drinking water supply, and in particular its nineteen upstate reservoirs, constitutes one of the city�s most valuable capital assets.
Long-range planning by City officials, going back as far as 1842 when the City�s first upstate reservoir was placed into service, has provided New Yorkers with a high quality drinking water system, which today supplies roughly 1.2 billion gallons a day to New York City residents and visitors.
The Council recognizes that water supplied by the six large West-of-Hudson reservoirs that make up the city�s Catskill and Delaware system remains unfiltered, and thus will continue to be vulnerable to pollution from such sources as sewage and stormwater runoff generated by development on watershed lands, which drain into the rivers and streams that feed these reservoirs.
The acquisition of watershed lands and the preservation of these lands as forests, meadows and wetlands has been recognized by the American Water Works Association, the National Research Council, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other independent water experts as one of the most important strategies for safeguarding unfiltered drinking water supplies like New York City�s.
New York City�s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has, in recent years, advanced a successful watershed land acquisition program, which has protected by fee simple purchase or easement approximately 60,000 acres since 1997. However, the total amount of watershed lands owned and easements obtained by New York City equals only about 100,000 acres, or 10% of the Catskill and Delaware watersheds. Even when state, local, and private land trust holdings are added in, the total protected acreage equals about 30% of New York�s Catskill and Delaware system watershed lands � a much lower percentage than that protected by the five other large municipal unfiltered water supplies in the United States � San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Oregon and Boston.
The Council believes that it is essential for New York City to renew and aggressively advance its willing-buyer, willing-seller land acquisition program for at least ten additional years. Moreover, it is the Council�s hope that a continuation of the City�s land acquisition program, will be matched by significant additional land acquisition efforts by State agencies, local governments and private land trusts, so that over the long term, total lands secured in the Catskill and Delaware watersheds will climb closer to the levels of protection afforded to watersheds of all other major unfiltered water supplies in the country.
The Council also finds that policing the City�s reservoirs, dams and other water supply infrastructure, as well as watershed lands, and protecting them from wide-ranging threats, including pollution, vandalism and terrorist attack, must continue as a high priority. DEP�s Police Force should be enhanced and supported so that it has all of the necessary capabilities and resources to fulfill these important responsibilities, while at the same time serving as a good neighbor to the watershed communities.
In addition, the Council recognizes that it can better fulfill its responsibility to New York City water consumers and ratepayers by assuming a greater role in reviewing the Department of Environmental Protection�s revised Long-Term Watershed Land Protection Program document, to be submitted by the City to the United States environmental protection agency in 2006.
The Council further recognizes that an essential element in safeguarding the City�s drinking water supply is to continue and strengthen the water quality-based partnership between the City of New York and the communities whose watershed lands drain into City reservoirs. The Council believes that the City�s watershed protection initiatives should continue to be advanced in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation between New York City and the watershed communities, and in a manner that allows for continued economic vitality for watershed residents.
Finally, the Council is aware of the financial burdens that rising water and sewer rates have on New York City property owners, and is therefore committed to minimizing future water and sewer rate increases to the maximum practicable extent. Significantly, advancing the watershed protection measures set forth in this legislation can help mitigate against future water rate increases. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and its implementing regulations require that all public water providers with surface water supplies like New York City must filter their water to protect against microbiological contamination and other health threats, unless the water consistently achieves water quality standards and the water provider is implementing a comprehensive watershed protection plan that satisfies applicable federal regulations. Fortunately, New York City is today achieving these drinking water quality standards. But the City must also continue to demonstrate through ownership or written agreements with landowners in the watershed, or a combination of both, that it controls all human activities that may have an adverse effect on the microbiological quality of the source water.
If New York City were required to filter its Catskill and Delaware system water supplies, it is estimated by the department of environmental protection that the capital costs alone would exceed 6 billion dollars, with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in debt service and operating costs. Since 1993, the City has received filtration avoidance waivers from the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to provisions of the SDWA. New York City�s current filtration avoidance waiver expires in 2007, and under its terms, the DEP is required, among other things, to develop a revised watershed protection program and submit it to the EPA by December 2006.
The intent of this legislation is to insure that the DEP�s post-2007 watershed protection efforts will build upon and enhance the Department�s on-going watershed protection program, so as to increase the likelihood that the City will continue to secure a filtration avoidance waiver from the EPA for the Catskill and Delaware systems. This legislation is not intended to prescribe the full set of measures and strategies that will need to be included in the City�s 2006 watershed protection program, but rather to highlight several critical measures that the Council believes must be implemented as part of the City�s overall approach.
The Council believes that taking the steps that this legislation directs, when combined with other strategies advanced by the City and/or required by the EPA, will help to protect the City�s irreplaceable reservoirs and watershed lands for future generations, to strengthen the partnership between New York City and watershed communities and to stave off water rate hikes that would otherwise be necessary if the city were required to install costly filtration facilities for the Catskill and Delaware water systems.
�2. Chapter three of title 24 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding thereto a new subchapter 5, to read as follows:
Subchapter 5. The New York City Water Supply Protection Act.
� 24-366. Short title.
� 24-367. Definitions.
� 24-368. Watershed land protection goals and activities.
� 24-369. Water supply security report.
� 24-370. Watershed protection program document
� 24-371. Annual Report
� 24-366 Short Title. This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the �New York City water supply protection act�.
�24-367 Definitions. For the purposes of this subchapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) �Catskill/Delaware Watershed� means the drainage basins of New York city�s ashokan, cannonsville, kensico, neversink, pepacton, rondout, schoharie, and west branch/boyd�s corner reservoirs.
(2) �Croton Watershed� means the drainage basins of New York city�s amawalk, bog brook, cross river, croton falls, diverting, east branch, middle branch, muscoot, new croton, and titicus reservoirs, as well as of kirk lake, lake gleneida and lake gilead.
(3) "Catskill and Delaware Water Supply System" means the catskill/delaware watershed and the tunnels, dams and aqueducts which are part of and connect the reservoirs that constitute the catskill/delaware watershed.
(4) �2006 Watershed Protection Program� means the revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program that must be prepared by the commissioner and submitted to the United States environmental protection agency in December 2006, pursuant to agency�s November 2002 New York City Filtration Avoidance Determination and setting forth New York city�s commitments and milestones that will be the basis for the agency�s 2007 determination regarding whether and under what conditions to renew the city�s filtration avoidance waiver for the catskill and delaware water supply system.
�24-368 Watershed land protection goals and activities. a. The commissioner shall establish a goal of acquiring fee simple ownership or conservation easements for at least seventy-five thousand acres within the catskill/delaware watershed during the period from 2007 to 2017. To help accomplish this goal, the commissioner shall:
(1) Continue the department�s willing-buyer/willing seller watershed land acquisition program for the catskill/delaware watersheds at least at the 2005 level of operation;
(2) Make good-faith efforts to acquire fee simple ownership or conservation easements totaling at least seven thousand five hundred acres per year in the catskill/delaware watershed during that period;
(3) Take greater advantage of cost-effective conservation easements in fulfilling the new watershed land goals set forth in this section; and
(4) Include the ten-year and annual land and easement acquisition goals in the department�s 2006 watershed protection program, prepare any land acquisition permit requests as may be necessary and deposit funds as necessary into the segregated land acquisition program funding account, established pursuant to the 1997 United States environmental protection agency filtration avoidance determination for the catskill/delaware water supply system.
b. In addition to the catskill/delaware watershed land and easement acquisition measures described in subdivision a of this section, the department shall continue to vigorously pursue watershed protection and land acquisition efforts in the croton watershed. To this end, the department shall recommend an allocation of funds necessary for land and easement acquisition in the croton watershed, to be used to match funds allocated by county and local governments within the catskill/delaware watershed or any land trust or other private entity in acquiring watershed parcels of particular importance to water quality protection.
c. For all acquired lands subsequent to the effective date of this section, the commissioner shall develop and implement land management plans that, among other things, are sensitive to the benefits of allowing expanded recreational opportunities on these lands provided such activities are compatible with watershed and water quality protection.
�24-369 Watershed and water infrastructure security report. (a) The commissioner shall continue and enhance the department�s on-going efforts to safeguard the city�s reservoirs, watershed lands and water supply infrastructure from potential threats that might compromise the quality or quantity of the city�s drinking water supply, including point and non-point pollution discharges, vandalism, or terrorist attack. To that end, and so that the DEP police force is sufficiently staffed and equipped to respond to emergencies not later than January 15, 2006 and every January 15 thereafter, commissioner shall submit a report to the mayor and the speaker of the Council: (a) describing the department�s current and projected staffing levels for its watershed police force and an assessment as to whether such current and projected staffing levels are fully sufficient to meet the multiple challenges and increasing duties of this force, and if not, the steps that the department will take to assure that necessary police staffing levels are achieved; (b) outlining the department�s current police personnel salary and benefit package, presenting comparable information for persons serving as public safety or police officers with other agencies or departments within the catskill/delaware watershed area, and describing what steps the department will take in order that department police personnel receive comparable salary and benefits to those personnel performing similar roles within the catskill/delaware watershed; and (c) describing the internal and external communications systems used by the department�s police personnel within the watershed and outlining the steps the department will take for enhancing radio and wireless telephone communications both within the department�s police force and among the department police and other law enforcement agencies.
�24-370 2006 Watershed Protection Program document. (a) Prior to its being submitted to the United States environmental protection agency pursuant to the agency�s November 2002 New York City Filtration Avoidance Determination, the city�s revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program document shall be submitted to the council for its review and recommendations and such recommendations shall be incorporated into the final document to be submitted to the agency, as set forth in subdivisions b, c, and d of this section.
(b) A revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program document which is to be
submitted by the city the United States environmental protection agency in final form by December 14, 2006, pursuant to the agency�s November 2002 New York City Filtration Avoidance Determination, shall be presented in draft form to the council no later than September 14, 2006. The council may hold public hearings on the draft document and shall assess the draft document for consistency with the specific directives and legislative
intent of this statute and with requirements under federal and state law.
(c) The council shall no later than October 28, 2006 prepare and submit to the
department a written evaluation, which may recommend revisions or modifications to the city�s draft revised Long-Term Watershed Protection Program document.
(d) In fulfilling its requirement to present a final revised Long-Term Watershed
Protection program document to the United States environmental protection agency no later than December 14, 2006, the commissioner shall not submit such document to the agency unless the department has either incorporated the revisions or modifications recommended by the council or added to the body of such document a detailed explanation as to why the council�s recommendations have not been so incorporated. In the event that the commissioner elects not incorporate all of thecouncil�s recommended revisions or modifications into the final revised Long- Term Watershed Protection Program document, it shall, in addition to providing the detailed explanation discussed above, include the council�s writtenevaluation in its entirety as an appendix to such document.
�24-371 Annual Reporting. (a) No later than October 1, 2008, and every October 1 thereafter, the commissioner shall submit a report to the mayor and the speaker of the council regarding progress made during the reporting period and since June 30, 2007, in achieving the goals establish by this subchapter. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, specific information regarding:
(1) Acreage acquired in the catskill/delaware watershed through fee simple ownership and conservation easement;
(2) Steps taken to continue the department�s willing-buyer/willing-seller Watershed Land Acquisition Program for the Catskill and Delaware watersheds in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter;
(3) A description of good-faith efforts made to acquire fee simple ownership or conservation easements totaling at least seven thousand five hundred0 acres per year;
(4) Funds deposited into the segregated land acquisition program funding account;
(5) Status of developing and implementing land management plans for newly acquired lands; and
(6) Status of staffing, salary and benefit levels, staff retention and enhanced communications for department police personnel.
�3. Severability clause. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or other portion of this local law is, for any reason, declared unconstitutional or invalid, in whole or in part, by any court of competent jurisdiction such portion shall be deemed severable, and such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this law, which remaining portions shall continue in full force and effect.
�4. This local law shall take effect immediately.
JH
4/18/05 10:30 am
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[1] Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report (2003) NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
[2] Alan L. Anders, Executive Director of the NYC Municipal Water Finance Authority, at http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/aboutus.html (�MWFA website�).
[3] New York City Water Board �Public Information Regarding Water and Wastewater Rates�, April 2003 (�April 2003 Booklet�), p. 29.
[4] The City of New York � Department of Environmental Protection, Education Information, �Celebrating New York City�s Clean Drinking Water� (�Celebrating Clean Drinking Water�), p. 3.
[5] 2001 Annual Water Quality Report�, Report by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (�2001 Water Quality Report�), p. 2; http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/wsstato1a.pdf.
[6] 2001 Water Quality Report at 2.
[7] Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report (2003) NYC DEP.
[8] April 2003 Booklet at 29.
[9] Celebrating Clean Drinking Water at 3.
[10] The officers have jurisdiction in the eight upstate counties that make up the watershed, according to a 1983 Act by the State Legislature, and in the city � Risinit, Michael. �DEP Police expands for post-9/11 world�, Journal News, April 15, 2004.
[11] The five new precincts are located in the towns of Grahamsville, Olive, Beerston, (Town of Walton), Gilboa and Downsville. The new training center, the Stephen J. King Environmental Police Training facility, is located in the Town of Walton, Delaware County.
[12] Risinit, Michael. �DEP Police expands for post-9/11 world�, Journal News, April 15, 2004.
[13] Testimony of Emily Lloyd, Commissioner, New York City Department of Environmental Protection at a Hearing of the New York City Council Committees on Environmental Protection and Finance, Fiscal Year 2006 Preliminary Budget, City Hall, Committee Room, March 11, 2005, p. 6.
[14] Id.
[15] DEP press release: Department of Environmental Protection Opening Five New Police Precincts Upstate to Better Protect The City�s Water Supply, Dec 11, 2003.
[16] �Beefing up the department charged with protecting our water supply� 7-online.com, November 14, 2002.
[17] The federal legislation refers to the Bio-terrorism Act of 2002 and the state legislation refers to Public Health Law � 1125.
[18] Sargent, Greg. �On high alert, city water boss hops to action� � NY Observer, May 30, 2002
[19] Id.
[20] New York City Filtration Avoidance Determination, USEPA - November 2002, Surface Water Treatment Rule Determination for New York City�s Catskill/Delaware Water Supply System (�2002 FAD�), p. 2.
[21] The EPA delegated primary enforcement authority to the New York State Department of Health (�NYSDOH�) for the SWTR for all public water systems in New York State, except for the Catskill/Delaware system. The SWTR will be delegated to the NYSDOH for the Catskill/Delaware system in May 2007. The NYSDOH has not yet applied for delegation of the IESWTR. Id. at 3.
[22] The Coalition of Watershed Towns is an organization representing 34 towns, nine villages and five counties located west of the Hudson River.
[23] http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dep/html/agreement.htm.
[24] 2002 FAD, p. 5.
[25] �Since May 2000, [DEP] has acquired, or obtained conservation easements on, over 150 acres of land in Kensico basin and is continuing to focus substantial efforts on future acquisitions. In addition, the City has significantly sped up the pace of its wastewater treatment plant upgrade program. A total of six facilities (including four of the largest dischargers), which account for over 80% of the flow from non-City-owned plants, were upgraded and began operation in August 2002.� Id.
[26] http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dep/html/fadplan.html.
[27] 2002 FAD, p. 1.
[28] New York City�s Water Supply System, Watershed Agreement Overview, The City of New York Department of Environmental Protection, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/agreement.html, p. 5.
[29] �In exchange for selling certain development rights to the DEP, landowners receive tangible economic benefits: a one-time lump sum cash payment and lower property taxes.� http://NYC.gov/html/dep/html/news/depnewsframeset.html.
[30] Id. at 30.
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