NYC Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP)

DEP Saves Christmas on Upper West Side It was a busy Christmas Eve for some DEP crews on Manhattan’s West Side. They spent the day repairing a water main break at West End Avenue and 75th Street. The problem was initially thought to involve a water service line to an assisted living facility but after further investigation it turned out to be a longitudinal crack along 18-feet of water main. Crews worked through the overnight to install a new section of water main and successfully restored water service to the facility around 1 p.m., just in time for holiday celebrations to begin. #NYCWater #WaterQuality #WaterMainBreak #Repairs #Construction #ChristmasRepairs

Field Highlights: Denise Sital is a perfect fit for our Bronx Customer Service Center. Having grown up in the South Bronx, she says she's a real people person who loves interacting with customers! Denise told us she also loves vibrant colors and nail swag, but we had a hunch about that! 😉 #NYCWater #WaterCareers

Out of the Archives: This month marks 100 years since the Catskill Aqueduct first operated at full capacity in January 1925! Though it had been bringing clean water to the City since 1917, the intervening years saw development of the Schoharie Reservoir, Shandaken Tunnel, and several additional steel pipe siphons like this one, which carry the aqueduct across valleys. For more NYCDEP, click: http://bit.ly/2tKkvDE. #NYCWater #WaterQuality #TBT #Tunnel #Engineering #Construction

From the desk of the Commissioner, Rohit Aggarwala As we start 2025, I hope everyone can take a moment to reflect on all the impressive work we accomplished as an agency in 2024. From responding to an historic dry spell which sent the City into its first drought warning in more than 20 years, to continuing the absolutely critical work of making the five boroughs more resilient to extreme weather and flooding, our commitment to keeping New Yorkers safe never wavered. Together, our nearly 6,000 staff worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers. We prioritized public safety and transparency while supporting the Bedford Park community during the recent 48″ water main break along Webster Avenue, completed the first phase of work at the northern Gowanus Canal CSO tank site, advanced construction on the newest Bluebelt in Midland Beach, Staten Island, recorded impressive progress on building the new digesters at the Hunts Point Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF), broke ground on the first Cloudburst project as well as the first widescale use of porous pavement, improved the reliability of the waste to renewable energy project at the Newtown Creek WRRF, protected all of our critical functions during the summertime Crowdstrike computer outage and worked with partners to fight wildfires in and around the City’s watershed. We also drove down water main breaks by 10 percent, treated 455 billion gallons of sewage, conducted nearly 3 million drinking water quality tests, broke ground on the Kensico-Eastview Connection Tunnel in Westchester, began the replacement of 600,000 Automated Meter Reading devices, surpassed the halfway deep mark on the two remaining shafts for City Water Tunnel No. 3 in Queens, launched a Lead Service Line Replacement Program, managed the exponential growth of the Citizens Idling Complaint Program by issuing more than 70,000 summonses, and made the video evidence available online. And these were but a very few of our many, many shared accomplishments in 2024. Read more about the work we did here. I’d also like to acknowledge the fantastic work of our two primary photographers, Jean Schwarzwalder and Kristen Artz, as well as their backups on the digital team. Your beautiful photos permanently capture so much of the behind-the-scenes hard work that culminates with these accomplishments. Finally I’d like to wish all of you and your families a very happy and healthy new year! We’ll see you in 2025 and look forward to getting even more done for the people of New York City! We’ve included some of their photos in this edition of Pipeline but see all of the top photos and videos from 2024 here: https://bit.ly/40eoJWK #NYCWater #WaterQuality #HappyNewYear #Engineering #Construction

Every sip, every splash, every flush is due to the dedicated team that keeps NYC flowing 24/7/365. Here's to another great year of keeping NYC flowing. #NYToughest💪 #NYCWater #WaterCareers #HappyNewYear #2025

Happy New Year, NYC! When you finally find your throne at the end of the night's festivities, rest assured our team, working 24/7/365, will keep it flowing into the new year! 😉 #NYCWater #NYE2024

From the desk of Commissioner, Rohit Aggarwala In terms of looking ahead: • We are actively engaged with legislative and regulatory activity that impacts DEP’s environmental compliance operations • DEP has contracted with a design firm to develop new public-facing maps and graphics • The agency is doing extensive outreach to delinquent customers in preparation for the first lien sale in several years—a critical enforcement tool I want to take a moment to thank all DEP Employees for your hard work, professionalism, and dedicated service to DEP and the nearly 10 million NY'ers who depend on us! I wish you and your families Happy Holidays and a healthy New Year. I look forward to what next year has in store for DEP! Part 2/2 #NYCWater #WaterQuality #DEPSuccess #NYE2024

From the Desk of Commissioner, Rohit Aggarwala It was my pleasure to have hosted DEP’s Q4 Town Hall last Wednesday, and to be able to share my thoughts on DEP’s response to the citywide drought, as well as highlight some of agency’s recent successes and look ahead to 2025. DEP has been incredibly successful in tackling the first citywide drought since 2002—implementing drought protocols, proactively closing leaky fire hydrants, identifying customers that may have leaks, and developing a public awareness campaign to get the word out that every drop counts! Upstate, Bureau of Police & Security (BPS) helicopters have also responded to wildfires near our reservoirs and joined local emergency management in teams in helping to fight them. DEP has also paused the Delaware Aqueduct Repair Project in order to regain access to our Delaware system reservoirs. I want to thank all our bureaus for your contributions to water conservation at DEP and citywide. Several key updates and recent wins include: • We made progress in delivering short- and long-term drainage solutions to residents of the Jewel Streets neighborhood • Two Bureau of Water & Sewer Operations (BWSO) teams from the annual Hydrant Hysteria competition and will represent DEP at the American Water Works Association New York State Competitions to be held on April 15, 2025 in Saratoga Springs • Our dedicated mariners are keeping sludge boats operating by working overtime in face of significant staffing shortages • Over Thanksgiving Eve, BWSO field crews responded to a water main break in the Upper West Side and worked through the night to resolve the issue by early afternoon Thanksgiving Day • This fall, BPS’s Division of Emergency Response and Technical Assessment (DERTA) was deployed at several important city events in case of an emergency • The agency is working with residents to identify lead service lines in NYC and supporting property owners who want to replace their service lines • DEP received the first of its new fleet of custom-made catch basin cleaning trucks • DEP played a significant role in the City of Yes rezoning negotiations, and our planned investments will support critically needed infrastructure and housing throughout NYC • Together with State partners we announced a Request for Information to encourage the development of cellular service in the watershed Part 1/2 #NYCWater #WaterQuality #DEPSuccess #NYE2024

2024 added up to some pretty impressive numbers. 🔢 💧We tested NYC's drinking water nearly 3 million times 💧Reduced water main breaks by over 10% 💧Added new sewers to prevent 29 million gallons of discharge from entering Flushing Bay Read more here:https://on.nyc.gov/4gCjply #NYCWater #NYE2024

Council Hearing on Drought Bureau of Water Supply Deputy Commissioner Paul Rush testified last Tuesday about the recent drought during a City Council hearing before Chairman James Gennaro and members of the Committee on Environmental Protection, Resiliency, and Waterfronts. He noted that just the day before the drought warning had been downgraded to a drought watch, in large part due to significant rain and melting snowpack in the watershed replenishing our reservoirs. In addition to addressing the drought, Rush was joined by Chief Operating Officer Kathryn Mallon and Deputy Commissioner Julie Lubin from the Bureau of Environmental Compliance (BEC) to discuss pieces of legislation that were on the agenda. For the full testimony, click: ttps://https://lnkd.in/eU8XHJjb #NYCWater #WaterQuality #Drought2024 #WaterSupply #Resiliency