New York City24
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The New York DEP: A New Kind of Modeling Agency
Last Friday, Don Pierson of the NY DEP gave a lecture at the Columbia Water Center as part of our Fall Seminar Series. The talk, entitled “A Project to Evaluate the Effects of Climate Change on the NYC Drinking Water Supply,” detailed the process behind current DEP efforts to model the possible effects of climate…
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In New York City, 2010 is All About the Water
Has New York City hit a critical mass that will make it truly a green city? I’m beginning to suspect so, at least in terms of water issues. There have been an increasing number of initiatives both to remediate past damage and to prevent future water quality problems, that are worth looking at together.
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DIY Superfund Cleanup? Jerko the Water Vacuum Goes to Gowanus
Last Saturday, October 2nd saw the maiden voyage of “Jerko, the Gowanus Water Vacuum” in a classic expression of the burgeoning, grandly ambitious Do-it-Yourself environmental cleanup movement. Jerko is intended to move up and down the canal, cleaning water through biological filtration and reminding us of what have done to the earth—and what, in theory,…
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Another Superfund Site in New York City: Newtown Creek to Get a Makeover
The March designation of the Gowanus Canal in New York City as a SuperFund clean up site was an important step forward, and is now being followed by another leap: on Monday Newtown Creek, which runs between Queens and Brooklyn received the same designation.
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Keeping New York City Water Safe
Everyday, New York City’s 8 million residents consume over one billion gallons of water; 80,000 gallons a year for your average family. What sort of assurances are provided that the water is safe from the reservoir to the tap?
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In Support of the Neglected Drinking Fountain
The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association built the first public drinking fountain in London in 1859, as an answer to some of the pressing problems of their times. Drinking fountains are also part of the answer to some of our own problems.
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Struggle to Keep Fish, People & Power Companies Happy
There’s that water-energy nexus again – power plants in NYS are under scrutiny for damaging aquatic habitat and the DEC is working on a policy to limit their impact. Over 17 billion eggs, larvae and fish are killed each year, but opponents to the policy say it could cause NYS energy costs to sky-rocket.
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DRBC Gives Tentative Go Ahead to Fracking in PA — New York Skips the Meeting
According to the Delaware River Basin Commission, over 15 million people—about five percent of the nation’s population—rely on the Delaware River Basin for “drinking, agricultural, and industrial use.” New York City alone gets half its water from reservoirs located on tributaries of the Delaware. It’s no understatement, then, to suggest that the commission—a regional body…
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Beat the Heat, but with Bottled Water?
As temperatures in the Northeast finally begin to ease, we can assess the first heat wave of summer 2010. Here in New York, there was remarkably little drama. Through Herculean efforts, ConEd was able to avoid any serious blackouts or brownouts, and thankfully, there were no health emergencies. Neither were there any major heat-induced public…
