Last chance to cut the crap in New York City

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Last chance to cut the crap in New York City

Kayaking Newtown Creek and East River

Eleven billion gallons of raw sewage and polluted stormwater pour into the city’s largest waterways each year, due to sewer systems being overrun by rainfall. The City Department of Environmental Protection’s new plan to “control” this pollution in the coming decades is to reduce that volume by only two to four percent. This is woefully insufficient, especially when climate change will make the problem worse. DEP’s action to reduce this pollution must amount to more than a “drop in the bucket.”

The “Citywide/Open Waters Long Term Control Plan” would continue to allow 10.5 million gallons of sewage to discharge each year to waters surrounding every borough of New York City, including the Hudson River, Harlem River, East River, Western Long Island Sound, Upper and Lower New York Bay, Kill Van Kull, and Arthur Kill. These discharges especially impact the shoreline embayments and inlets that New Yorkers use for recreation and other activities.

Tell Governor Andrew Cuomo and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio it's time to cut the crap and keep our waterways clean for all New Yorkers to enjoy.

Instructions:

Read the sample letter (below) and add your own thoughts on why this is important to you. Personalized messages have a greater impact!

Note: We send your comments to your representatives by automatically filling out their online contact forms. Note that some representatives require more information like title, phone and full address.

Recipients

Your Governor
Vincent Sapienza, Commissioner, DEP
Basil Seggos, Commissioner, DEC
Department of Environmental Protection Staff
Mayor de Blasio

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Message

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Dear [Decision Maker],

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I write to respectfully convey my concern that the New York City Department of Environmental Protection's proposed "Citywide/Open Waters" Long Term Control Plan is woefully insufficient. Further action is needed for the city to protect human health, comply with the Clean Water Act, and make our waters fishable and swimmable.  
 
The proposed plan would reduce the roughly 11 billion gallons of CSO pollution by a mere two to four percent, leaving 10.5 billion gallons discharging annually to the city's largest waters, including the Hudson River, Harlem River, East River, Western Long Island Sound, Upper and Lower New York Bay, Kill Van Kull, and Arthur Kill. 
 
It is inexplicable this plan would invest only $42 million (in 2019 dollars) to clean up these vital waterways, as compared to the $1.65 billion being spent in Newtown Creek alone to build a sewage capture tunnel. 
 
DEP's proposed plan is based on out-of-date science, allowing water quality to fall well short of meeting federal health standards mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. It leaves waterfront parks vulnerable to sewage contamination, such as Hudson River Park, Inwood Hill Park, Roberto Clemente State Park, Astoria Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Snug Harbor. It does not address CSO pollution within the embayments and inlets where New Yorkers commonly access the water for recreation. Nor does it account for climate change projections for increased increased rainfall in our region.
 
I call on New York City and New York State to:
 - base the city's Citywide/Open Waters LTCPs on up-to-date water quality criteria (which EPA has directed New York State to adopt);
 - base the plan on up-to-date climate projections for our region, rather than historical 2008 rainfall data;
 - prioritize CSO reductions in locations where recreational use is most impacted by sewage overflows; and
 - produce integrated plans, based on EPA's 2012 Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Wastewater Planning Approach Framework, to address municipal storm sewer and combined sewer pollution holistically.
 
I call on the City and State abandon this proposed plan and put forward a real cleanup plan that dramatically reduces sewage pollution, prioritizes areas where people recreate in and alongside the water, meets federal health standards, is designed to handle increased rainfall from climate change, and is put into place as soon as possible.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide these comments.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]