Urge NYS and NYC to reduce raw sewage discharges and improve water quality in the Harlem River

On April 16, 2025, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) released a draft proposal that would exempt the Harlem River from bacterial water quality standards when it rains. Rainfall triggers combined sewer overflows (CSOs) that discharge nearly 2 billion gallons of raw sewage and polluted stormwater into the river each year, and the proposed exemption would allow this pollution to continue for the foreseeable future.

The Harlem River watershed is home to some of the most economically disadvantaged communities in the country, and sewer and stormwater discharges worsen the area’s already high pollution burden.

This decision could also set a damaging precedent for other local waterways, including the East River and its tributaries, Newtown Creek, the Arthur Kill and Kill Van Kull, tributaries to Jamaica Bay, and Coney Island Creek. Unless DEC requires improved conditions in all of these waters, NYC will never meet its goal of eliminating CSOs by 2060.

The state’s proposed rule would accept New York City’s all-or-nothing approach to addressing CSOs in the Harlem River. This false choice fails to consider the many positive impacts of cost-effective, incremental improvements to water quality — such as green infrastructure designed to absorb or retain rainwater — that would simultaneously benefit human health, recreation, and the environment. It also fails to consider affordability programs to relieve the costs of water and sewer services on low income residents, while obtaining the resources necessary to make infrastructure improvements.

Join us in urging the NYS DEC take action to ensure that the Harlem River makes steady progress to reduce CSO discharges, protect vulnerable communities and set a meaningful precedent that will help improve water quality in the rivers and tributaries around New York City for generations to come.

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Acting Commissioner Lefton, NYS DEC

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Don't give up on the Harlem River

Dear [Decision Maker],

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I am concerned that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) has proposed to classify the Harlem River as SB(ww) based on New York City's flawed Use Attainability Analysis and Financial Capability Analysis. This decision would assign the river a wet weather exemption, allowing for combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges to continue at 1.9 billion gallons per year, which is far too high. It is unacceptable that the NYS DEC would permanently downgrade the use of the Harlem River without ensuring that NYC first fully evaluates all CSO reduction alternatives and considers potential water and sewage rate affordability programs. NYS DEC should use its authority to make incremental progress towards meeting New York City's 2060 goal of zero CSO.

I urge the NYS DEC to designate the Harlem River as Class SB, setting the goal for the water as safe for recreation, and to pursue temporary (five-year) variances from this use, as the state and the city -- with robust public involvement -- continue to identify cost-effective measures to reduce CSO discharges in the coming years towards the city's goal of zero CSO. The NYS DEC should reject NYC's Use Attainability Analysis and pursue further evaluation of potential alternatives, such as phased development of a CSO capture tunnel; treatment capacity increases at Rikers Island; and neighborhood-scale green infrastructure implementation. The planned daylighting of Tibbetts Brook, which will provide for both improved water quality and improved access to green spaces for overburdened neighborhoods, is a laudable project and an example of the type of infrastructure improvement that should be explored in other areas of the Harlem River.

The NYS DEC should also reject NYC's Financial Capability Analysis and require a revision that both evaluates the cost-feasibility of CSO-reduction alternatives that provide incremental benefits, and factors affordability programs into the assumptions.

Although I fully appreciate that construction of infrastructure improvements that reduce sewage overflows will likely impose a burden on Bronx and Upper Manhattan communities, I believe that in the long term, the benefits of cleaner waters will outweigh the short-term disturbance. I also believe that with better water quality, the Harlem River could be more readily accessible as a recreational asset for our communities, which will bring immediate and lasting quality of life and economic benefits.

Thank you for your consideration of these comments,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Your Email]