Harboring Cleaner Waters

NYC Water Staff
Sep 5, 2018 · 2 min read
Left: Whale tail in NY Harbor. Right: We are pleased to present our 2017 New York Harbor Water Quality Report (PDF).

With 522 miles of shoreline, the waterways that surround New York City are one of our greatest assets. We are leading efforts to restore New York Harbor’s natural ecology—and the work is paying off. We’re now seeing plant and animal species returning to our waterways in numbers we haven’t seen in decades — including whales!

To protect and improve the health of our local waterways, we have invested more than $12 BILLION to upgrade our wastewater treatment system and expand the nation’s most ambitious green infrastructure program. Moving forward, we will invest another $4.4 BILLION to implement a series of cleanup plans for the Gowanus Canal, Newtown Creek, Flushing Bay, the Bronx River, and other local waterways.

Watch how our Marine Sciences and Microbiology Lab staff test the waters throughout NY Harbor.

Our work has already lead to significant achievements, including an increase in our combined sewer overflow capture rate from 30 percent (in the 1980s) to 80 percent (today), a rise in dissolved oxygen levels in all four areas of the harbor, and a dramatic decrease in ammonia and chlorophyll ‘A’ concentrations in Jamaica Bay.

NYC Water

The NYC Department of Environmental Protection protects public health and the environment by supplying clean drinking water, collecting and treating wastewater, and reducing air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution.

NYC Water Staff

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Drink from the tap, flush the toilet, enjoy New York's waterways—we make sure everything flows according to plan.

NYC Water

NYC Water

The NYC Department of Environmental Protection protects public health and the environment by supplying clean drinking water, collecting and treating wastewater, and reducing air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution.

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