S.W.I.M. Coalition

“Breaking ground with a $1.6 billion plan to tame water”
FROM: The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sun, Sep. 27, 2009, By Sandy Bauers

Philadelphia has announced a $1.6 billion plan to transform the city over the next 20 years by embracing its storm water – instead of hustling it down sewers and into rivers as fast as possible.

The proposal, which several experts called the nation’s most ambitious, reimagines the city as an oasis of rain gardens, green roofs, thousands of additional trees, porous pavement, and more.

All would act as sponges to absorb – or at least stall – the billions of gallons of rainwater that overwhelm the city sewer system every year.

The plan’s complex funding formula would raise rates somewhat but also attract grants and encourage private investment.

Further, the Water Department says the city’s greening would result in more jobs, higher property values, better air quality, less energy use, and even fewer deaths – from excess heat.

The plan is a radical departure from the highly engineered tunnels and sewage plant expansions cities have traditionally opted for.

“This is the most significant use of green infrastructure I’ve seen in the country, the largest scale I’ve seen,” said Jon Capacasa, regional director of water protection for the Environmental Protection Agency, which has the final say on whether the plan passes muster.

“We commend Philadelphia for breaking the ice,” he said.

Whether the plan will work as the department intends is still being analyzed by regulators and environmental experts. (This will take a while. The printed plan is 3,369 pages.)

Theoretically, it’s workable, said the Natural Resources Defense Council’s water expert, Nancy Stoner. The green techniques “are well-demonstrated,” she said. “It’s the scaling up that’s new. That’s what’s really exciting.”

Via Stormwaterauthority.org:

New York City Gets $220 Million Clean Water Stimulus Grant
NEW YORK, New York, September 10, 2009 (ENS)

The City of New York will receive $220 million in Recovery Act funding for water infrastructure improvements via the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

The New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation will administer the city’s $220 million grant, working with the U.S. EPA, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority.

New York Governor David Paterson and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Tuesday announced plans for the water quality improvement projects that will be covered by the federal economic stimulus funding. Two of the projects will directly address stormwater issues.

The city will receive $2 million to reduce flooding from heavy rains in the boroughs of Staten Island, the Bronx, and Queens by transforming existing roadway drainage into green infrastructure that the officials said will beautify neighborhoods and protect local waterways from untreated stormwater runoff.

To accomplish these objectives, the city will plant trees, build street planters, and landscape rain swales, which will capture and store more water during heavy rains. The Corporation has worked closely with the Mayor’s Office and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to address flooding hotspots in neighborhoods such as Cambria Heights and Far Rockaway in Queens and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx.

Project construction is expected to begin next January and be completed in January 2012, at which time the property will be maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

The city will receive $20 million to restore 38 acres of wetlands and natural grasslands adjacent to the Paerdegat Basin Combined Sewer Overflow Facility located on the shores of Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn.

With nearly 500,000 residents living in the drainage area of the basin, stormwater runoff has increased five-fold annually since the 1930s. The city will implement an environmentally friendly stormwater management plan by reintroducing local vegetation, restoring the shoreline, and constructing a large catch basin to prevent rainwater runoff and street litter from reaching Jamaica Bay.

When the project is completed, five acres of parkland will become the Ecology Park, which will offer open access to salt marshes and grassland areas with permeable pavement walkways and viewing platforms. The park will include exhibits so that schools and tourists can learn about the coastal habitats in the New York City region.
Project construction is expected to be completed in January 2012 and then the property will be maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
The bulk of the Recovery Act funding will be spent on energy efficiency and equipment upgrades to save money and improve water quality at wastewater treatment facilities in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx.

Calling the funding “important and urgently needed,” Governor Paterson said, “These projects will provide a bounty to New York City by saving money through increased energy efficiency, protecting our waterways through improved wastewater treatment, reducing flooding after heavy rains and restoring precious wetlands.”

“The city has tremendous infrastructure needs and this funding is an important down payment on protecting and improving our urban waterways,” the governor said.
“We have the nation’s most sweeping urban environmental agenda, so we leave our children a greener, healthier city,” said Mayor Bloomberg.

“The infusion of stimulus dollars for water projects will bolster our aggressive programs and help us improve water quality in our rivers and bays, reduce flooding in areas that have long suffered from stormwater flooding – particularly in Southeast Queens, fund open space and open street greening projects and create jobs quickly with projects that will all begin in the next few months,” said the mayor.

Both officials thanked President Barack Obama and the New York Congressional Delegation for ensuring that money to help resolve New York’s water quality problems was included in the economic stimulus package.

This is not the first Recovery Act clean water funding New York has received.
In April, U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson awarded New York State a $432 million clean water grant from the stimulus package.

Since then, Governor Paterson has announced 39 clean water projects totaling more than $560 million that will receive financial assistance from the stimulus program in combination with Environmental Facilities Corporation low-interest Clean Water State Revolving Fund financing.

Wednesday • September 23 • 6:30 PM
Restoring the Water Quality in the Estuary
 
When Henry Hudson arrived in New York harbor 400 years ago, he found a pristine marine ecosystem, but centuries of industrial activity have taken a toll on the Hudson River estuary. Join Andrew Juhl, Doherty Associate Research Scientist, Columbia University, and Alex Matthiessen, Hudson Riverkeeper and President of Riverkeeper, in a discussion moderated by Walter Mugden, Director, Division of Environmental Planning & Protection, EPA Region 2, on the progress that has been made on the water quality of the Hudson estuary and the challenges that still exist. Presented in conjunction with Mannahatta/Manhattan: A Natural History of New York City.
 
Reservations required. $6 Museum members; $8 seniors and students; $12 non-members.
 
For tickets, call 212.534.1672, ext. 3395 or visit www.mcny.org/public-programs/
 
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street
www.mcny.org

FYI, this 1 September 2009 NY Times articles explores the rising costs of DEPs big-budget projects. The project in question is the underground Croton Water Filtration Plant in Van Cortlandt Park, which will filter the Croton watershed in Westchester County. DEPs mysterious costs reminds me of the increased total of $26 million for floatables control in the 2009 Bronx River Waterbody/Watershed Facility Plan. The link and article are below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/science/earth/02water.html

Comptroller Assails Officials on Cost of Bronx Water Plant

By MIREYA NAVARRO

Published: September 1, 2009

William C. Thompson Jr., the New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate, said on Tuesday that officials in the city’s Department of Environmental Protection “misled the public” about a Bronx water filtration plant that is expected to cost more than double the initial estimate.

At a news conference, Mr. Thompson released two audits by his office that he said revealed flaws in the agency’s estimates for the project, from calculation errors to figures based on incomplete designs. He stopped short of accusing the agency of deliberately distorting the costs but said that officials had done “an incredibly poor job” with their calculations.

In 2003, the Department of Environmental Protection, which is overseeing the project, the Croton Water Filtration Plant, estimated its cost at $992 million. Construction began the following year. By 2007, city budget officials had determined the plant would cost $2.8 billion.

Mr. Thompson said the city also faced nearly $15 million in penalties for missing construction deadlines set in a 1998 consent decree with the state and federal governments in which the city, after receiving a previous extension, agreed to complete the plant by October 2011. It is now expected to be finished in spring 2012.

“What we discovered is an embarrassment,” Mr. Thompson said. “All this involves your money, taxpayers’ money.”

The plant, being built below ground in Van Cortlandt Park, will filter water from the Croton watershed in Westchester County, which serves parts of the Bronx and Manhattan. In 1997, the federal Environmental Protection Agency said the watershed did not meet its standards for purity; it initiated legal action to force the city to build the plant.

Steven W. Lawitts, the acting commissioner of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, said that the initial estimates had been based on “a conceptual design” and that the cost escalated mostly because of high inflation during the boom years in the construction business.

“The comptroller is fixating on something that was used for planning purposes and to compare alternative sites,” he said.

Mr. Lawitts said the delays and overruns would have only a “marginal” impact on water rates. He attributed the delays to “issues” with the low bidder of the main construction contract, who eventually withdrew.

But Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz of the Bronx, who long opposed building the plant underground in the Bronx and favored a site aboveground on land the city owns in Westchester, said inflation could not account for the gap between the estimates and the actual cost. He called it a result of “incompetence plus lies.”

“This project is the biggest boondoggle in the history of New York City, and we have plenty of boondoggles in New York City,” he said. “They just aren’t up to the job of running a project like this, and the comptroller’s audits demonstrate that.”