A DSNY facility in Gravesend, Brooklyn that stored damaged batteries reached capacity last year, leading the city to issue an emergency procurement to remove them.
Department of Environmental Protection
Posted inClimate Change
Rising Groundwater Threatens New York City — Researchers to Study How Much
Water tables that rise with sea levels can inundate basements, ruin underground infrastructure and render anti-flooding strategies ineffective. After a nearly decade-long hiatus, the feds are starting up monitoring again.
Posted inWeather
Ida Flood Victims Face Another Storm Season With Sandbags and Bad Sewers
While officials work toward sewer and drain upgrades and ‘green infrastructure’ to absorb water, people in at-risk neighborhoods know they are vulnerable.
Posted inUtilities
With Prices Up Everywhere, Water Bills On the Rise, Too
The Department of Environmental Protection has floated the biggest rate hike since 2014. The public is invited to weigh in two days this week.
Posted inUtilities
State Approves Massive Electricity Transmission Lines to Power Climate Goals
One line will bring down dam-generated electricity from Quebec, and another will feed the city with solar, wind and hydropower-created juice from Upstate. Without them, state and city climate targets were merely a pipe dream.
Posted inClimate Change
Oft Overlooked on Brooklyn-Queens Border, The Hole Shows Risks of Ignoring Environment
Clement Bailey didn’t know what to expect when he moved from Flatbush just as the city shut down in March 2020. He’d bought a two-family house in The Hole, a low-lying neighborhood wedged between South Conduit Avenue and Linden Boulevard that straddles the border lines of East New York, Brooklyn, and Lindenwood, Queens. Some call […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mayor’s Map Showed Most of Ida’s Victims Lived Where Rainfall Was Riskiest
Locations flagged in May match spots where basement apartment-dwellers drowned in flash floods Wednesday night. De Blasio says he’s accelerating alerts in advance of heavy rains.
Posted inWeather
Ida-Deluged NYC Drainage System All But Forgotten in Climate Battle
Recent projects have expanded sewer capacity in some neighborhoods. But antiquated storm pipes leave the city vulnerable to the new normal of massive rain storms. “We need to rainproof New York City,” one expert said.
Posted inWeather
How to Clean Up After Ida: A Guide for the Flooded
Additional reporting by Aria Velasquez, Clifford Michel and Allison Dikanovic Between the remnants of Hurricanes Ida and Henri, New Yorkers have been walloped by water this summer, with some finding their homes flooded for the first time. Basement apartments were especially hard-hit by Ida, with most of the city’s deaths coming in below-grade homes. Meanwhile, […]
Posted inCovid-19
Researchers Find Signs of COVID-19 Mutations in NYC Sewage, Pointing to Possible Dog and Rat Infections
Scientists studying coronavirus in local wastewater say that city environmental officials initially had “zero willingness to help explore this potential public health risk.” Officials stress that the findings are preliminary.