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Council Member Gennaro discusses Proposed Intro 1150-A on stormwater management
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Council Member Gennaro elaborates on Proposed Intro 1150-A, which would require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to develop a comprehensive stormwater management plan. He explains the current inadequacies of New York City's stormwater system and the need for increased rainfall conveyance capacity.
- The bill aims to address increasing frequency of intense rainfall events.
- It builds upon previous legislation (Local Law 124 of 2024) that requires DEP to publish a ten-year rainfall flood risk area map.
- The proposed plan would recommend new rainfall conveyance capacities and identify necessary projects and policies.
James F. Gennaro
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First, I'd like to discuss proposed intro eleven fifty a.
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The current capacity of New York City's storm water system is insufficient to address the increasing frequency of intense rainfall.
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Today, new sewer new sewer construction is designed to convey up to 1.75 inches of rain per hour, which according to weather models is an intensity of rainfall expected to occur once every five years.
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Unfortunately, this 1.75 inches per hour standard is already out of date.
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In 2023 alone, New York City had five storms with a rainfall intensity greater than 1.75 inches per hour.
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Five in one year.
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It's supposed to be once every five years, which led to the temporary closure of major thoroughfares and subway lines and likely caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to public infrastructure.
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The effects of this flooding were not experienced equally across the city as neighborhoods with inadequate storm water infrastructure or low lying topologies experienced particularly severe inundation.
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Such neighborhoods are identified by the ten year rainfall flood risk area map, which DEP will publish pursuant to local law one twenty four of 2024 legislation that I sponsored last year.
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So we kinda set the building blocks in place.
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They're they're gonna draw the maps, and now we're gonna do this bill, and they're build upon the, law we did last year.
0:02:53
The bill we're voting on today, proposed intro one one five zero a, would also address stormwater flooding by requiring that DEP develop a comprehensive stormwater plan to increase the rainfall conveyance capacity of the city's stormwater system.
0:03:06
The plan would recommend new rainfall conveyance capacities for different areas of the city and would identify projects and policies necessary to achieve those capacities.
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Additionally, DEP would be required to display the status of the plan and the status of all projects and policies recommended by the plan on an online dashboard.
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Achieving the rainfall conveyance capacities recommended by the plan would shrink the ten year rainfall flood risk areas such that fewer neighborhoods will experience damages from storm water flooding.