Click below to view in flash. Use the mouse to click to the animated photo’s; the pages will advance but you need to use the mouse click to go through the presentation. FULL SCREEN IS THE LAST RIGHT BUTTON.
Van Cortlandt Park Alienated Lands
(Please click the image to advance the slides)
If you do not have flash, you can download the Acrobat (pdf) version by clicking here.
This is a draft presentation. It will be corrected in the next few days.
Posted by karen |
Agency Oversight
DEP REPORT CARD
CDWC Issue DEP Report Card, May 15, 2008
On May 15, the Clean Drinking Water Coalition (CDWC) — The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, NYPIRG and Riverkeeper — announced the release of their first annual DEP Report Card: “Making the Grade: New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s Drinking Water Protection Programs.” The DEP Report Card grades, analyzes, and provides recommendations for thirty-three DEP watershed programs which protect New York City’s drinking water.
http://www.riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/watershed/we_are_doing/1544-dep-report-card
Click on the link above to continue to read the article and report on the Riverkeeper Home Page, then return to our page to comment.
Posted by karen |
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City’s Drinking Water Gets Good Grades in New Report
By Anthony DePalma, New York Times City Room
From the time they are children squirming in diner benches with their parents, New Yorkers are told to drink their water because it is the best anywhere. A report issued today by a number of environmental organizations that make up the Clean Drinking Water Coalition pretty much confirms that impression — at least in terms of purity, cleanliness and safety.
Click on the link above to continue to read the article and comment to the NYT blog, and/or return to our page for more chances to comment.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/
citys-drinking-water-gets-good-grades-in-new-report/?scp=1&sq=&st=cse
Posted by karen |
Rain that runs off of a construction site must be handled in a manner that follows the SPDES permit described below and in the document. This 42 page document is effective May 1, 2008.
From the PREFACE
Pursuant to Section 402 of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), stormwater discharges from certain construction activities are unlawful unless they are authorized by a NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit or by a state permit program. New York’s SPDES (State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) is a NPDES-approved program with permits issued in accordance with the Environmental Conservation Law (“ECL”).
This general permit is issued pursuant to Article 17, Titles 7, 8 and Article 70 of the ECL. An owner or operator may obtain coverage under this general permit by submitting a Notice of Intent (”NOI”) to the Department. Copies of this General Permit and the NOI for New York are available by calling (518) 402-8109 or at any Department of Environmental Conservation (“the Department”) regional office (see Appendix G).They are also available on the Department’s website at:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/
An owner or operator of a construction activity that is eligible for coverage under this general permit must obtain coverage prior to the commencement of construction activity. Activities that fit the definition of “construction activity”, as defined under 40 CFR 122.26(b)(14)(x) and (15)(i), constitute construction of a point source and therefore, pursuant to Article 17-0505 of the ECL, the owner or operator must have coverage under a SPDES permit prior to commencing construction activity. They can not wait until there is an actual discharge from the construction site to obtain permit coverage.
NYS General Stormwater for Construction Permit 2008
Posted by karen |
Well, I love a rainy day! Send in your photos of the rain, the runoff, the height of the latest river and/or stream, or just people getting wet! Send in the measurements of the rain inches per hour, inches per day, inches per storm, and the name of your town, city, etc.
Today it is raining in the northeast US. A big coastal storm which is good for the trees and flowers and cleans the air we breathe.
Check out the way of the water flow depending on the development status. It is really an interesting diagram. Water Cycle in an Urban Setting is from a really nice EPA booklet.
From this, you should be able to see that as we continue to change the landscape and build more and more impervious surfaces, less water can penetrate the ground. Where the water penetrate into the ground, it can be filtered naturally and will slowly end up in a water body. Where the water runs off over the impervious surface (because it can not seep into the ground), it picks up dirt and stuff along the way, and enters the water body faster and hotter than the original unchanged landscape.
We can do something about this, if those who want to change the landscape understand that there is a way to do this without harming our ecology.
Let me know what you think about this.
Posted by karen |
