N.Y.C. Admin. Code § L.L. 2008/005: L.L. 2008/005

Enactment date: 2/19/2008

Int. No. 630-A

By Council Members Gennaro, Brewer, Fidler, Gentile, Gonzalez, James, Koppell, McMahon, Nelson, Recchia Jr., Reyna, Sanders Jr., Stewart, Weprin, Liu, Mark-Viverito, White Jr., Eugene, Sears, Katz and Garodnick

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the City of New York, in relation to developing and implementing a sustainable stormwater management plan.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The Council finds that New York City receives, on average, 44 inches of precipitation a year, more than most other major United States cities. The combined sanitary and storm sewer system is designed to divert stormwater runoff during certain precipitation events to ambient surface waters so that the flow to wastewater treatment plants does not exceed their capacity or cause the backup of sewer water into residences and onto streets. As a result of combined sewer overflows, an average of approximately 27 billion gallons of combined sewage and stormwater are discharged, untreated, into the City's ambient surface waters in a typical year.

It has been reported that such combined sewer overflows ("CSOs") introduce significant amounts of bacteria such as fecal coliform and other pollutants such as nitrogen, into the City's waterbodies, posing a danger to the public health, damaging the ecology, and making some of such waterbodies unsuitable for many recreational activities. In portions of the City where separate sewers convey sanitary sewage and stormwater, untreated stormwater discharge carries significant amounts of bacteria and other pollutants, as does stormwater that by-passes the sewer system altogether and flows directly into the City's waterbodies.

Source control strategies that decrease the amount of stormwater entering the wastewater treatment system are valuable tools to reduce the occurrence and volume of CSOs and other stormwater discharges. Effective source control strategies also provide other benefits, such as decreased energy consumption and economic benefits associated with supporting local markets for source control strategies. The Council finds that the development and implementation of a sustainable stormwater management plan is vital to improve water quality in the City and thereby better protect the public health through the restoration and protection of the ecological health of the City's waterbodies and to the enhanced use and enjoyment of the City's waterbodies for recreational activities.

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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]

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§ 3. This local law shall take effect immediately.