Q&A
DEP's drought response and infrastructure projects
1:15:00
·
101 sec
Council Member Restler discusses with Paul Rush from DEP about the agency's drought response and ongoing infrastructure projects, particularly focusing on the Delaware Aqueduct repair project.
- Explores the impact of drought on the Delaware Aqueduct repair project
- Discusses the one-year delay in the project due to drought conditions
- Highlights the importance of repairing leaks in the water supply system
- Mentions investments in technology and personnel for improving system resilience
Paul Rush
1:15:00
So, in terms of being resilient for for a drought and things that we need to do, from DEP's perspective, we need to be able to deliver water to the city every day, no matter what.
1:15:14
And the work we are doing on the Delaware Aqueduct to repair a large leak, 35,000,000 gallons a day, completing that is important.
1:15:23
As I mentioned earlier
Lincoln Restler
1:15:24
That project paused as a result of the drought?
1:15:26
Was that?
1:15:26
That project paused as a result of the drought.
1:15:28
Now that the drought warning's lifted?
Robert Holden
1:15:29
We did
Paul Rush
1:15:29
have to pause it because Is
Lincoln Restler
1:15:30
it restarting now that the drought warning has been lifted?
Jim Gennaro
1:15:34
We would Please continue, Lincoln.
1:15:35
Don't worry about the clouds.
Paul Rush
1:15:36
I'll go fast.
1:15:37
I'm sorry.
1:15:38
We would- the plan, when we can restart, we're preparing to restart it again next fall.
1:15:43
We can only begin that in the start of the low demand period.
Lincoln Restler
1:15:47
We lost a full year of work.
Paul Rush
1:15:50
Well, we lost we're going to have to push it back until next year.
Lincoln Restler
1:15:53
So Yeah, we lost a full year of work.
1:15:54
Yes.
1:15:55
Accurate.
Paul Rush
1:15:57
So, repairing that leak's important.
1:15:59
On the Catskill aqueduct, we have leaks in the pressure tunnel that goes on the Rondeau Pressure Tunnel.
1:16:08
We have a plan in place, or we're working on a repair for that.
1:16:12
We need to make those investments.
1:16:14
And also, throughout the distribution system, making sure that we're making investments in water mains to make sure we reduce and make a more resilient system.
1:16:24
I mean, that's key to resiliency and also investments in technology and personnel and research to take, like Catherine had mentioned, AI to use as a tool to improve our knowledge predictive of where we may have brick?
Lincoln Restler
1:16:41
I appreciate all of those answers, and and certainly the first responsibility of DEP as an agency is to make sure that we all have access to clean drinking water.
