S.W.I.M. Coalition

Flushing Bay and Gowanus Canal Watershed Initiative

Stormwater Best Management Practices and Low Impact Development Grant Program

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is soliciting stormwater best management practice (BMP) and low impact development (LID) proposals for the Gowanus Canal and Flushing Bay watersheds. This project was undertaken in connection with the settlement of an enforcement action taken by New York State and DEC for violations of New York State law and DEC regulations.

DEP will award several grants to projects that help to remove stormwater from the combined sewer system and treat urban stormwater runoff prior to being discharged into local waterways. Examples of methods of achieving this include the following:
• Improving stormwater runoff quality by directly removing
pollutants.
• Improving stormwater quality through soil or other media
• Increasing retention time to allow for greater soil
infiltration
• Improving or adding retention capacity
• Improving or adding detention capacity
• Reducing Combined Sewer Overflow volumes and floatable debris
from stormwater runoff.

A total of $2,900,000 will be available for potential projects. DEP plans to award $1,450,000 for projects within the Gowanus Canal watershed and $1,450,000 within the Flushing Bay watershed. The breakdown of grant awards is expected to be:
• Up to five $20,000 grants for each watershed and
• Up to three $450,000 grants for each watershed.

While the work must be completed within these watersheds, individuals, community and environmental groups, universities and other organizations that are not based in the Gowanus or Flushing watersheds are still encouraged to apply. The start of the application process is expected to begin in late Fall 2009 with a period of proposal development of approximately two months. Additional information regarding the program will be available in Fall 2009 on this page.

More info: http://tinyurl.com/yhhkkdy

OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PR- 513-09
November 30, 2009

MAYOR BLOOMBERG APPOINTS CASWELL F. HOLLOWAY AS COMMISSIONER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today appointed Caswell F. Holloway as Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. Holloway currently serves as Chief of Staff to Deputy Mayor for Operations Edward Skyler and as Special Advisor to Mayor Bloomberg. Since 2006, he has been tasked with spearheading solutions to some of the City’s most complex issues. For instance, he took a leading role in the writing and implementation of the Administration’s report on the health impacts of September 11th and led negotiations on 9/11 health legislation that has been introduced in both houses of Congress. Following the tragic fire at 130 Liberty Street, he led a comprehensive review of abatement and demolition operations that resulted in a recently completed overhaul of the asbestos abatement process. He also played a lead role in developing the City’s comprehensive cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal, and in the passage and implementation of the City’s new Solid Waste Management Plan. He will replace Acting Commissioner Steven Lawitts, who has served as Acting Commissioner since the departure of Commissioner Emily Lloyd last October. The Mayor announced the appointment in the Blue Room of City Hall, where he was joined by Deputy Mayor Skyler. Commissioner Holloway will begin work at the Department of Environmental Protection in January.

Please follow this link for the rest of the press release:

http://tinyurl.com/yl63jqd

Great to see CSOs in the NY Times Sunday paper… Enjoy!

NY Times
November 23, 2009
As Sewers Fill, Waste Poisons Waterways
By Charles Duhigg

It was drizzling lightly in late October when the midnight shift started at the Owls Head Water Pollution Control Plant, where much of Brooklyn’s sewage is treated.

A few miles away, people were walking home without umbrellas from late dinners. But at Owls Head, a swimming pool’s worth of sewage and wastewater was soon rushing in every second. Warning horns began to blare. A little after 1 a.m., with a harder rain falling, Owls Head reached its capacity and workers started shutting the intake gates.

That caused a rising tide throughout Brooklyn’s sewers, and untreated feces and industrial waste started spilling from emergency relief valves into the Upper New York Bay and Gowanus Canal.

“It happens anytime you get a hard rainfall,” said Bob Connaughton, one the plant’s engineers. “Sometimes all it takes is 20 minutes of rain, and you’ve got overflows across Brooklyn.”

One goal of the Clean Water Act of 1972 was to upgrade the nation’s sewer systems, many of them built more than a century ago, to handle growing populations and increasing runoff of rainwater and waste. During the 1970s and 1980s, Congress distributed more than $60 billion to cities to make sure that what goes into toilets, industrial drains and street grates would not endanger human health.
But despite those upgrades, many sewer systems are still frequently overwhelmed, according to a New York Times analysis of environmental data. As a result, sewage is spilling into waterways.

In the last three years alone, more than 9,400 of the nation’s 25,000 sewage systems — including those in major cities — have reported violating the law by dumping untreated or partly treated human waste, chemicals and other hazardous materials into rivers and lakes and elsewhere, according to data from state environmental agencies and the Environmental Protection Agency…

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/us/23sewer.html

Westchester Co. Dept of Planning presents:
Sustainable Strategies for Stormwater Planning and Design:  Managing stormwater in regional suburban and urban environments using creative solutions
December 2, 2009, 8:00am to 4:00pm
Click here to download event flyer.

Landmark West! and Lincoln Center presents:
Green Building, Energy Efficiency and Existing Buildings
Friday, December 4, 2009, 8:45am to 5pm.
(7.5 hours AIA learning units and NYS Real Estate License Continuing Education Credits offered)
Click here to download event flyer.