Reduce pollution from stormwater runoff

Water is one of our most precious resources and must be valued and managed wisely. Water is essential to our daily life and public health. We must preserve New York’s water from contamination, the risks of aging infrastructure, and the impacts of climate change. The New York City DEP operates one of the most complex water and wastewater systems in the world. It manages a network of 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes that cover approximately 2,000 square miles of watershed land as far as 125 miles upstate. The City’s drinking water system is the largest unfiltered water supply in the world, delivering approximately one billion gallons of high-quality drinking water each day to nine million New Yorkers.

Project Stage

Development & Testing

Last update: October 05, 2023

Overview Contributors

Challenge

neighborhood flooding

Description

New York City has approximately 7,000 miles of water mains and over 7,500 miles of sewer mains that incur substantial maintenance, replacement, and management costs. Fourteen large municipal WWTPs treat an average of 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater every day. To safeguard this invaluable natural resource and more efficiently deliver critical water services, the City has adopted a holistic approach to water management. This is anchored in an understanding of local water cycles and an appreciation for the contributions of smaller-scale, decentralized projects aimed at optimizing the performance of existing large-scale systems. For example, the City has spent approximately $1.7 billion since the 1990s in watershed protection. These investments have helped protect our natural resources and ensure high-quality affordable drinking water, while also avoiding the need for an estimated $10 billion new filtration plant.

SDGs