Q&A
Public service announcements and water conservation efforts during drought
0:59:15
·
174 sec
Council Member Salamanca inquires about public service announcements and water conservation efforts during the recent drought. He notes that while the mayor made announcements, many New Yorkers were not paying attention to water conservation messages.
- DEP's Deputy Commissioner for Public Affairs acknowledges that New Yorkers are not accustomed to conserving water regularly, unlike some other regions.
- The department plans to continue messaging about water conservation even after the drought warning has ended.
- Efforts include PSAs, leak detection programs, and educational initiatives in schools to raise awareness about water conservation.
Rafael Salamanca, Jr.
0:59:15
Alright.
0:59:15
Thank you for that.
0:59:16
Then my last line of questioning has to do with the public service announcements.
0:59:21
During the drought, you know, what I observed was I saw the mayor speaking on, you know, asking New Yorkers to limit their water usage.
0:59:30
You know, if you're gonna shave while you're shaving, if you can turn off your faucet, take, you know, if you're gonna shower, you know, turn on the water when you're gonna get in the shower, not just turn on the shower and wait around.
0:59:42
But as council member nurse stated, New Yorkers were not really paying attention, we were because we were more in government.
0:59:50
So I'm just curious to know about moving forward, if you're gonna have a public service announcement ready, for New Yorkers.
0:59:58
But also what I observed in my district during these announcements.
1:00:02
I saw my car washes fully functioning.
1:00:05
I saw my supers cleaning their sidewalks with the water hoses.
1:00:09
Does DEP moving forward have any, how can I say, regulations that they will put in place to hold these individuals accountable that are, I would call, wasting water when there is a drought in the city?
UNKNOWN
1:00:35
Sorry.
1:00:35
Please raise your right hand.
1:00:37
Do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and to answer all council member questions honestly?
Beth DeFalco
1:00:43
I do.
Matt Drury
1:00:43
Thank you.
Jim Gennaro
1:00:44
And and when you answer, please state your name for the record.
Beth DeFalco
1:00:46
Sure.
1:00:47
I'm Beth DeFalco, deputy sorry.
1:00:49
Deputy commissioner for, public affairs.
1:00:51
And I apologize for being late.
1:00:52
I was up the Bronx.
Rafael Salamanca, Jr.
1:00:53
I saw you in the Bronx.
Beth DeFalco
1:00:55
Yeah.
1:00:55
This morning is mud on my shoe shows.
1:00:58
Yes.
1:00:58
One of the things that I think was the biggest, lesson from a public affairs, standpoint and communication standpoint is just that New Yorkers are not used to having to conserve water every single day because it's not a thing that we've unlike other places in California, you know, out west, that we've had to do.
1:01:16
So we realized that just because we are not in a drought warning anymore, doesn't mean that we are gonna slow down our messaging and communication about what people need to do to conserve water, specifically everything from PSAs, also to our leak detection program.
1:01:31
I think one of the biggest things that we can do is make sure that New Yorkers sign up for leak detection so that if you do have a leaky toilet, which you might not know otherwise, we can notify you once it hits a certain point, so that you both can say you are conserving water and saving money, which is something I think that we we all wanna do.
1:01:49
But, yeah.
1:01:50
We are making a considerate effort that just because we are out of this particular drought warning doesn't mean that we are gonna slow up on that messaging.
1:01:58
We've got a terrific education department that is out in classrooms every day, and working with our education department to make sure that that's something that we are, doing continually and increasingly to get the message out.
