REMARKS
Proposed comprehensive stormwater plan and infrastructure capacity increase
0:05:57
ยท
83 sec
Council Member Jim Gennaro details a pre-considered intro that would require DEP to determine a new capacity for the city's stormwater infrastructure and publish a comprehensive stormwater plan. This bill aims to address increasing challenges from extreme weather events.
- Current NYC sewers are built to handle 1.75 inches of rain per hour in most areas
- Some neighborhoods lack basic stormwater infrastructure
- The bill proposes increasing the stormwater processing capacity beyond the current 1.75 inches per hour
- This update is seen as necessary given the increasing frequency of extreme weather events
Jim Gennaro
0:05:57
One of the most pressing challenges in recent years is street flooding caused by rainfall.
0:06:02
New York City sewers were built to handle, in much of the city, 1.75 inches per hour, of, of rain, that is stormwater, or less per hour.
0:06:14
But some neighborhoods lack even the most basic stormwater infrastructure.
0:06:18
Parts of southeast Queens have no stormwater infrastructure whatsoever.
0:06:18
With with the increasing frequency of of, of, of very, very extreme weather, New York City needs to consider, pushing out to 1.75 inches per hour of stormwater processing capacity that it now has in most of the city.
0:06:41
One of the pre considered intros you're hearing today would require DEP to determine a new capacity for the city's stormwater infrastructure and publish a comprehensive stormwater plan for how to achieve that capacity.
0:06:55
No small feat.
0:06:56
We're talking about 6,000 miles of, or thereabout of, stormwater infrastructure.
0:07:03
And, it's gonna be a long term, you know, process.
0:07:07
And we have to pick a number, we have to fund it, we have to build it.
0:07:10
This is it's gonna be a lot.
0:07:13
This bill is a much needed update to the sustainable stormwater plan that I drafted and passed so many years ago.