We will make the reduction
of CSO volumes and other environmental issues a priority
for all relevant City agencies
Multiple agencies, including but not limited to the
Departments of Transportation, Parks & Recreation,
Buildings, and City Planning are responsible for infrastructure
or development that has direct impacts on pollution
in our waterways. But water quality is seldom considered
during the decisions and activities these agencies undertake
on a daily basis. Every time the City plants a tree,
a contractor builds a house, or an agency constructs
a road, there is little opportunity or incentive to
integrate water quality measures. This has created barriers
to our ability to assess and develop comprehensive policies
for the deployment of BMPs on a citywide basis.
That's why we will establish the New York City Interagency
BMP Task Force which will bring together all relevant
City agencies to analyze ways to incorporate BMPs into
the design and construction of projects. This year,
the Task Force will pilot three of the most promising
BMPs followed by a series of additional pilots across
New York and measure the results. After 18 months, the
Task Force will announce a plan to integrate the most
successful BMPs on a larger scale. The recommendations
of this plan will not only reduce CSO volumes, they
will also help cool the city and reduce construction
and demolition waste creation by City agencies.
The focus will be on greening the public right-of-way,
developing BMPs on City-owned land, improving environmental
performance of open space, and creating strategies to
promote BMPs on private development.
The Task Force and its working groups will be coordinated
by the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability
with participation from the Departments of Environmental
Protection, Design and Construction, Transportation,
Citywide Administrative Services, Parks & Recreation,
Health and Mental Hygiene, City Planning, and Buildings,
and the Office of Management and Budget.
The Task Force also will create a set of performance
metrics to be published annually. Possible metrics include
market penetration of BMPs on private development, acres
of permeable surfaces, storm water capture rates, and
improvement in water quality such as reductions in fecal-coliform
levels and increases in dissolved oxygen. It will develop
a process to monitor, assess, and report agency and
BMP performance, as well as a process to reevaluate
and modify the report every two years.
Progress (as of 4/22/08):
In May, the City launched the Interagency Best Management
Practices (BMP) Task Force to pursue implementation
of stormwater management strategies through all 16
relevant agencies, and the Task Force continues its
work towards the release of a citywide stormwater
management plan. The Task Force has held three public
outreach meetings so far and continues to meet with
other local, State, and Federal stakeholders. The
Task Force is also working with national experts on
low impact development and green infrastructure. To
codify these efforts, the Administration worked with
the City Council on a stormwater management planning
bill, Local Law 5 (LL5), which Mayor Bloomberg signed
into law on February 19. LL5 requires the City to
conduct a thorough study of stormwater BMPs, determine
the estimated costs and benefits of each practice,
and provide a draft stormwater management plan by
October 1, 2008 for public comment. The Interagency
BMP Task Force is charged with implementation of this
law.
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