New York City Department of Environmental Protection

Department of Environmental Protection

Department overview
Jurisdiction	New York City
Headquarters	59-17 Junction Boulevard Elmhurst, Queens
Employees	6,210 (2020)
Department executives	Rohit T. Aggarwala, Commissioner of Environmental Protection Vincent Sapienza, Chief Operating Officer
Key document	New York City Charter
Website	www.nyc.gov/dep

Tallman Island plant

Rockaway plant

Sludge boat passing under the Brooklyn Bridge on the East River

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's water supply and works to reduce air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution.

Under a 1.3 billion dollar budget, it provides more than 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m³) of water each day to more than 9 million residents (including 8 million in the City of New York) through a complex network of nineteen reservoirs, three controlled lakes and 6,000 miles (9,700 km) of water mains, tunnels and aqueducts. DEP is also responsible for managing the city's combined sewer system, which carries both storm water runoff and sanitary waste, and fourteen wastewater treatment plants located throughout the city. DEP carries out federal Clean Water Act rules and regulations, handles hazardous materials emergencies and toxic site remediation, oversees asbestos monitoring and removal, enforces the city's air and noise codes, bills and collects on city water and sewer accounts, and manages citywide water conservation programs. Its regulations are compiled in title 15 of the New York City Rules.

Facilities

Drinking water

Main article: New York City water supply system

NYCDEP manages three upstate supply systems to provide the city's drinking water: the Croton system, the Catskill system, and the Delaware system. The overall distribution system has a storage capacity of 550 billion US gallons (2.1×10⁹ m³) and provides over 1 billion US gallons (3,800,000 m³) per day of water to more than eight million city residents and another one million users in four upstate counties bordering on the water supply system. The distribution system is made up of an extensive grid of water mains stretching approximately 6,600 miles (10,600 km).

Wastewater treatment

The city's wastewater is collected through an extensive grid of sewer pipes of various sizes and stretching over 7,400 miles (11,900 km). The Bureau of Wastewater Treatment (BWT) operates 14 water pollution control plants treating an average of 1.3 billion US gallons (4,900,000 m³) of wastewater a day; 96 wastewater pump stations: 8 dewatering facilities; and 490 sewer regulators. The bureau has a staff of 1,900 employees, with a $340 million annual operating budget, and an annual capital budget of $200 million.

Wastewater Treatment Plants

Plant	Service area	Size ser day		Discharges to
		In millions of gallons	In thousands of cubic meters
26th Ward	Eastern Brooklyn	85	320	Jamaica Bay
Bowery Bay	Northeast Queens	150	570	Upper East River
Coney Island	South Brooklyn, Central Brooklyn	110	420	Jamaica Bay
Hunts Point	Eastern Bronx	200	760	Upper East River
Jamaica	Southern Queens	100	380	Jamaica Bay
Newtown Creek	Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens	310	1,200	East River
North River	Manhattan	170	640	Hudson River
Oakwood Beach	Staten Island	40	151	Lower New York Bay
Rockaway	Queens	45	170	Jamaica Bay
Owls Head	Brooklyn	120	450	Upper New York Bay
Wards Island	Bronx, Manhattan	275	1,040	Upper East River
Tallman Island	Queens	80	300	Upper East River
Port Richmond	Staten Island	60	230	Kill Van Kull
Red Hook	Brooklyn, Governor's Island	60	230	Lower East River

Commissioners

The current commissioner Rohit Aggarwala was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams in January 2022. Other former Commissioners include:

• Frank McArdle (1978–81), Ed Koch
• Joe McGough (1982-86), Ed Koch
• Harvey Schultz (1986–89), Ed Koch
• Albert Appleton (1990-93), David Dinkins
• Marilyn Gelber (1994–96), Rudy Giuliani
• Joel Miele (1996-2002), Rudy Giuliani
• Christopher O. Ward (2002–05), Michael Bloomberg
• Caswell F. Holloway (2009-2011), Michael Bloomberg
• Carter H. Strickland, Jr. (2011-2014), Michael Bloomberg
• Emily Lloyd (2014–2016), Bill De Blasio
• Vincent Sapienza (2017–2022), Bill De Blasio
• Rohit Aggarwala (2022–present), Eric Adams

Violation of federal environmental laws

The federal government began investigating the DEP in 1998. On August 29, 2001, the DEP pleaded guilty in federal court to criminal violations of the Clean Water Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act, and sentenced to probation. As a condition of probation, the DEP was required to implement an environmental, health and safety compliance program to prevent future environmental law violations and to improve employee safety working conditions.

In 2003, the Office of Environmental, Health and Safety Compliance (EHS) was formed to administer the DEP's comprehensive safety and compliance efforts, which included the EHS Employee Concerns Program.

In 2006, the term of probation was extended and the BWT was included under the federal monitor's oversight following a discharge of untreated sewage into the East River after emergency generators failed to operate during the August 2003 blackout.

On December 25, 2009, probation and federal oversight of the DEP ended.

EHS Programs

Employee Concerns Program

Facilitates DEP employee reporting of observed environmental violations and unsafe employee conditions. Helps employees identify and prevent the harassment and intimidation of co-workers engaged in such activities. - 24/7 confidential employee concerns hotline - contract management plan to quicken execution of safety-related contracts - risk management program

Tiered Audit Program

Rates conditions by priority, enabling the agency to identify and address more than 44,000 specific workplace conditions

Compliance Action Plan

Ensures DEP follows all federal, state and local environmental, health and safety regulations by developing written policies, conducting training, and by purchasing and distributing safety equipment.

Since 2001, DEP has invested about $160 million in environmental health and safety programs.

OpX Program

In 2011, the New York City Water Board appointed Veolia Water to partner with DEP in an effort to identify opportunities to make improvements in every aspect of New York City's drinking water, sewage collection, and wastewater treatment operations. Veolia teamed with McKinsey & Company and Arcadis to acquire additional analytical and technical expertise, respectively. The initiative, branded "Operational Excellence (OpX): The Best Always Do Better," is an opportunity for DEP to take employee ideas and best practices from water utilities across the globe to achieve the agency's goal of being the "safest, most productive, cost-effective, and transparent water utility in the nation."

Rather than responding to future financial pressures with budget cuts that might weaken critical services, the OpX initiative makes improvements that will increase the strength of DEP. The OpX program aims to streamline workflows, boost efficiency, and continuously identify opportunities for improvements that will allow DEP to maintain its level of customer service, safety, and productivity while minimizing rate increases for its roughly 836,000 rate-payers. To achieve this, the Commissioner set a goal for OpX to achieve operating benefits of $100–200 million by 2016.

See also

• Environmental issues in New York City
• New York City Department of Environmental Protection Police
• New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), for hearings conducted on summonses for quality of life violations issued by the Department

Further reading

• Soll, David. Empire of Water: An Environmental and Political History of the New York City Water Supply. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013.

External links

• New York City Department of Environmental Protection
• Department of Environmental Protection in the Rules of the City of New York