Weekly PipelineRecreational boating on Pepacton Reservoir.June 15, 2021

Volume XII • Issue 597

Bill de Blasio, MayorVincent Sapienza, P.E., Commissioner

Guest Commissioner’s CornerThe COVID-19 p a n d e m i c presented many challenges for New York City and the world in 2020. Despite an unprecedented year, DEP’s Water

Demand Management Program progressed towards achieving the 20 million gallons per day (MGD) water savings goal established in the 2018 Water Demand Management Plan. As of June 2021, the Program has achieved a demand savings of 16.47 MGD. Initiatives recently completed include municipal building fixture retrofits, water-saving equipment upgrades in DEP’s wastewater resource recovery facilities, and the Water Challenge to Universities that includes a water efficiency guide.

DEP also made progress on a water recirculation project in Central Park, a valve replacement project in Prospect Park, and fixture retrofits in public school facilities. DEP also continued to offer Water Conservation and Reuse Grants, and selected recipients for the first round of grant funding. Related, the FY22 Rate Schedule, adopted by the Water Board on June 14 and effective on July 1,

includes revisions to a billing discount as well as other billing programs to further incentivize implementation and broaden adoption of water reuse and water recycling projects as strategies to reduce demand and combined sewer overflows. Additionally, through the Wholesale Customers Program, DEP partnered with seven customers to achieve demand savings of 5.21 MGD, a 9 percent decrease from their 2013 baseline. These programs offer co-benefits and are central to DEP’s One Water approach towards managing water resources. For example, these projects reduce flows to the sewer system and our wastewater facilities, which can reduce combined sewer overflows and CO2 emissions. For more information, see the recently released One Water NYC: 2021 Demand Management Annual Update.

As part of the Program, the Bureau of Environmental Planning and Analysis (BEPA) also completes water demand analyses that are critical for internal and external planning and decision-making. Particularly, BEPA has been analyzing water demand trends amid COVID-19 since March 2020. BEPA’s analyses have been used by several

Angela Licata

Mosquito bites can spread diseases such as Zika and West Nile Virus to both humans and animals. It is important at work facilities, and at home, to reduce sites where mosquitoes may develop by eliminating areas that may hold water. Standing water, bare skin, and dark clothing are three things that attract mosquitoes. Remember to follow the three D’s to keep mosquitoes away:

• Drain: Empty out water containers at least once per week.

• Dress: Wear long sleeves and pants when possible, and light-colored, loose-fitting clothing.

Defend: Apply an EPA-registered repellent such as DEET, picaridin, IR 3535 or oil of lemon-eucalyptus.

Employees should report standing water to their supervisor, facilities coordinator, or enviromental, health and safety officer. For areas that present difficulties in removal, facilities should contact their exterminator to apply a larvicide or reach out to FMC for guidance. If out in public areas, call 311.

For more information on mosquito control, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

At DEP, everyone is responsible for safety. If you or anyone on your team is concerned about your working conditions, it’ s okay to ask your supervisor or your bureau’ s EHS liaison how they can help. If you’ ve still got questions, you can call the EHS Employee Concerns Hotline. It’ s DEP’ s responsi-bility to acknowledge and fix unsafe situations, procedures, and practices. With your help, we’ ll not only get the job done, we’ ll make it safer for ourselves, our coworkers, our families, and our city. CALL (800) 897-9677 OR SEND A MESSAGE THROUGH EH&S EMPLOYEE CONCERNS. HELP IS ON THE WAY.

City agencies, including City Planning, Emergency Management, Management and Budget, and Municipal Water Finance Authority, for tracking COVID-19-related shifts in demographics, population, socioeconomics, and the City’s finances, plus COVID-19 recovery trends.

DEP will continue to advance demand reduction initiatives to provide a critical buffer prior to and during the Delaware Aqueduct repair. Furthermore, lower demand will help optimize reservoir levels during drought, ensure reliability of the city’s water resources, and reduce energy and greenhouse gas emissions. These strategies will help

strengthen our move towards a low carbon, resilient future.

I want to thank BEPA’s Integrated Water Management team for making this Program a success: Alan Cohn, Erin Morey, John Brock, Miranda Cashman, and Bijie Jia.

One Water NYC: 2021 Demand Management Annual Update

Bill de BlasioMayorVincent Sapienza, P.E.Commissioner

Spotlight on Safety

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Appendix C

Demand Management Interactive Map

DEP released a public map of its water conservation projects across New York City in 2018 that is updated upon the completion of new projects. All projects and their respective savings have been mapped and are available to view through DEP’s water conservation website. In addition, DEP has used the Water-Energy Nexus Tool to estimate the energy savings and benefits of water conservation, including the reduction in

electricity and greenhouse gases that would have been required to process and treat the water. A screenshot of this interactive map showing conservation projects and associated energy and greenhouse benefits is shown below.

With COVID numbers on the decline, many people have start-ed to resume p r e - p a n d e m i c activities such as traveling, seeing friends/family,

and simply feeling safe being outside again. While the enjoy-able things we were restricted from doing for so long are a

welcome step back to a sem-blance of normalcy...

To continue reading this article, please visit The Source.

Jonathan Glotzer

Maintaining Emotional Health

DEP Virtual Support Groups

Join Director of Staff Support and Assistance Jonathan Glotzer as he facilitates “Coping with Pandemic Stress” every Thursday at 12:30pm, “Coping with Isolation and Loneliness” every Friday at 12:30pm, and monthly “Multitask Parenting Support”. If you are interested in joining one or all of these virtual sessions, please register through DEP University. Space is limited.

DEP, NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) have com-pleted a $20.5 million project to improve street conditions, alleviate flooding, and upgrade infrastructure in Hollis and Queens Village five months ahead of schedule. DEP and DOT provided funding for the project that began in March 2019, while DDC managed the construction. Work occurred

on 20 individual blocks and in-cluded replacing more than one mile (7,090 feet) of water mains, and installing an additional 525 feet of new water mains. Fire protection was enhanced with the replacement of 18 fire hy-drants and installation of four new fire hydrants. A total of 2,255 feet of storm sewers were added to the neighborhoods, plus 1,240 feet of existing storm sewers were replaced. To better capture stormwater and direct it to the new storm sewers, 18 new catch basins were installed and 40 old ones were replaced. The project is part of a $1.7 bil-lion investment by the de Blasio Administration to build a com-prehensive drainage system, improve street conditions, and alleviate flooding in neigh-borhoods throughout south-east Queens. The program, the largest of its kind, consists of 44 projects overall, includ-ing 16 that are substantially completed and five that are in active construction.

Hollis & Queens Village Upgrades

The Waterfowl Management Pro-gram Building, located at Kensico Reservoir, Valhalla, was among the recently announced winners of the 39th Annual Awards for Ex-cellence in Design. The 14 win-ning projects were selected by the Public Design Commission from the hundreds of submissions reviewed in 2020 and exemplify how thoughtful and creative civic design can provide public spaces that enhance New Yorkers’ health and wellbeing. A summary of the project states, “Sited on the shoreline of the Kensico Reser-voir, the Waterfowl Management Program building will provide the resources necessary to main-tain the safety and high quality of NYC’s drinking water. The new facility will enhance the program with offices, storage, and training spaces, as well as boat repair and maintenance workshops. Expan-sive glazing provides unrestricted views to observe the water and

surrounding site, while the rear façades face the reservoir’s his-toric campus and are primarily clad in stone, providing an aes-thetic continuity with the nearby early 20th-century buildings.” The project is a collaboration among DEP, Hazen and Sawyer, and Go-show Architects. “We are thrilled to be recognized by the Commis-sion, which has been a critical partner to DEP as we advance our broad portfolio of projects to protect the city’s critical water and wastewater infrastructure, improve the environment, and safeguard public health,” said Commissioner Sapienza. Kudos to all those involved, in-cluding: Paul Rush, Deputy Com-missioner, Bureau of Water Sup-ply; Michael DeLoach, Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Public Affairs & Communications; Todd West, Director of Planning; Maria Mandarino, Chief, Infrastructure Planning, Design & Construc-tion; Mark DelBalzo, Section Chief of On-call Planning, Design & Construction; Chris Nadareski, Section Chief Watershed Protec-tion Programs, Wildlife Studies Section; Jose Nieves, Accountable Design Project Manager; Adam Bosch, Director of Public Affairs for the Bureau of Water Supply, and Alicia West, Director of Pub-lic Design Outreach.

Kensico Building Design Honored Waterfowl Management Program BuildingKensico Reservoir, Valhalla

A project of the Department of Environmental Protection

Hazen and SawyerGoshow Architects

Located on the shore of the Kensico Reservoir north of New York City, the Waterfowl Management Program Building will provide upgraded facilities for the management of the water bird population at the reservoir, which is critical to ensuring the health and safety of our water. This waterfowl management program is part of the City’s robust watershed protection, which safeguards the celebrated quality of the more than one billion gallons of drinking water that the Department of Environmental Protection delivers to nine million New Yorkers daily.

The building comprises two volumes with intersecting rooflines that are intended to visually reference a bird’s wings while functionally directing stormwater runoff away from the watershed. The primary volume houses administrative and support spaces designed to prioritize views of the water with expansive glazing that wraps the building to reveal a steel roof truss system within. The secondary volume encloses a boat wash and allows for pull-through access for boats through glazed overhead doors. The rear façades face the reservoir’s historic campus and are clad in stone to provide an aesthetic continuity with the nearby early 20th-century buildings.

Design Team

Hazen and Sawyer Edward Barboe, Vice President; Chris Roumbas, Senior Associate; Ryan Neumann, Project Engineer Goshow Architects Eric Goshow, Partner; Elizabeth Claassen, Studio Director; Shanette Kinard, Intern Architect; Miguel Varona, Intern Architect; Terry McMahon, Specifications Writer Department of Environmental Protection Vincent Sapienza, Commissioner; Paul Rush, Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Water Supply; Michael DeLoach, Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Public Affairs & Communications; Todd West, Director of Planning; Maria Mandarino, Chief, Infrastructure Planning, Design & Construction; Mark DelBalzo, Section Chief of On-call Planning, Design & Construction; Chris Nadareski, Section Chief Watershed Protection Programs, Wildlife Studies Section; Jose Nieves, Accountable Design Project Manager; Adam Bosch, Director of Public Affairs; Alicia West, Director of Public Design Outreach

Artist Adrian Sas has wrapped a series of panoramic photo-graphs around drinking foun-tains throughout Riverside Park in an art installation en-titled “Source to Spout.” The project reveals DEP’s system of protected lands, reservoirs,

and aqueducts that feeds these fountains. More than 1 billion gallons of water per day flows from upstate wa-tersheds to our taps via infra-structure which was original-ly envisioned by planners in the 19th century. All New York-ers depend on this infrastruc-ture to this day, even if they are unaware of its existence.

The installation is exhibited as part of NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program in part-nership with the Riverside Park Conservancy. “Source to Spout” features water foun-tains from 66th Street to 148th Street across Riverside Park and will be on view beginning June 18 through October.

Artist Celebrates NYC Watershed