Sewer infrastructure upgrades are underway in south Queens, including the installation of new interceptor sewers under the Belt Parkway and three hydraulic levees that will increase efficiency for the local network. When these projects are completed, an estimated 300 million additional gallons of wastewater per year will be diverted to the Jamaica Wastewater Treatment Plant. An enclosed receiving tank is also being constructed at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment plant as part of an experimental project with Waste Management and the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority.
2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the Department of Environmental Protection's Water Resources Art and Poetry Contest, which is open to second through twelfth grade students in New York City and upstate watersheds. Work proceeds on a $30 million project to construct litter control devices along Newtown Creek. Currently four of these below-ground capture devices are being installed by the Bureau of Engineering, Design and Construction. Due to seasonally unusual warmth, robotic monitoring buoys were removed from the Ashokan Reservoir much later than typically occurs.
Commissioner Emily Lloyd writes on the challenges facing the Department of Environmental Protection in future years, including climate change, repairs to the Delaware Aqueduct, and reduction of daily water consumption. The expanded Home Water Assistance Program will now provide 52,000 low-income homeowners with an automatic credit on their water bill, up from 12,500 in 2014. The Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations addressed a water condition on Rockland Avenue and Burton Court on Staten Island.
Drinking Water Supply and Quality Reports are prepared annually by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection in accordance with the New York State Sanitary Code and the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which require all drinking water suppliers to provide the public with an annual statement describing the sources and quality of its water supply.
Summary of programs involved in marine debris reduction, especially GreeNYC, which will use media strategies to convince city residents to engage in environmentally conscious behaviors.