For Immediate Release: May 5, 2008
Contact: Mirele B. Goldsmith 212-585-3332 or Mirele@att.net
<mailto:Mirele@att.net>
“TAKING
STOCK OF NEW YORK CITY’S DRINKING WATER”
PRESENTED BY NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
What:
“Taking Stock of New York City’s Drinking
Water” – A Public Program
The results of three groundbreaking studies about the 1997 New York City
Watershed Agreement will be presented at a program produced by the
Environmental Sciences Section of the New York Academy of Sciences.
These studies assess New York City’s programs to ensure water quality; outline
the status of current water quality and provide a baseline for future water
quality assessment; and review the economic impact of the 1997 NYC Watershed
Memorandum of Agreement.
The public is invited to attend.
When:
Thursday,
May 15, 2008, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Where:
New York
University - The Kimmel Center for Student Life
The Shorin Performance Studio (8th Floor)
60 Washington Square South at LaGuardia Place
New York, NY 10012
http://www.nyu.edu/about/virtual.html
<http://www.nyu.edu/about/virtual.html>
Media: Media
are welcome to attend and photograph the event at 6:00 pm.
(New
York City, NY) On May 15th 2008, the New York Academy of Sciences will
host an event to address the impact of the 1997 NYC Watershed Memorandum of
Agreement. Presenters from The Clean Drinking Water Coalition (CDWC), John Jay
College of Criminal Justice and the Stroud Water Research Center will present
their findings on the following: New York City Department of Environmental
Protection’s (DEP) compliance with federal and state watershed protection
requirements, the economic impact of the Agreement on the communities in the
watershed, and an overview of trends in water quality in the NYC Watershed.
The
Agreement—intended to protect the quality, affordability and availability of
the drinking water of almost 10 million New York City, Westchester and Putnam
County residents—has been hailed as an example of enlightened policy making.
Under the terms of the Agreement New York City pledged to spend over $1 billion
on programs designed to protect water quality and to strengthen the economies
of the watershed communities. If these programs successfully protected the
system’s water quality, the city could avoid building a federally mandated
water treatment plant that would cost several billion dollars to construct and
hundreds of millions of dollars a year to operate.
Representing
The Clean Drinking Water Coalition, Cathleen Breen, Watershed Coordinator for
the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), will present the CDWC’s “report card” on the DEP’s
compliance with all federal and state watershed protection requirements as
specified in the 1997 Watershed Memorandum of Agreement and USEPA’s
Filtration Avoidance Determinations. This “report card” examines how well the
DEP is protecting drinking water supplies and working with partners in the
Watershed. The CDWC is a partnership of NYPIRG, Riverkeeper, Inc. and The
Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, all signatories to the
Agreement.
Joan Hoffman, Professor of Economics at John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
will present her study of the impact of the New York City Watershed Agreement
on the economy of the counties in the watershed. Hoffman’s presentation will
look at the economic trends in the watershed and compare them to trends in
rural counties elsewhere in the state and nation.
Bernard W. Sweeney, Director of the Stroud Water Research Center, will present
the Center’s findings from its six-year study of the NYC Watershed. The Center
monitored 110 streams and rivers and 12 reservoirs to assess current water
quality and sources of pollution – and provide a technical baseline for
measuring future changes – in the streams, rivers, and reservoirs that supply
New York City's <http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dep/html/wsmaps.html>
drinking water. The study was funded by a Safe Drinking Water Act <http://www.epa.gov/safewater/sdwa/index.html> grant awarded by the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation <http://www.dec.state.ny.us/>
and the USEPA <http://www.epa.gov/> .
About the New York Academy of Sciences: Founded in 1817, the New York
Academy of Sciences is an independent, nonprofit organization with more than
25,000 members in 140 countries. The Academy’s mission is to advance scientific
knowledge, positively impact the major global challenges of society with
solutions that are science-based, and increase the number of scientifically
informed individuals in society at large. The Academy is located at 7 World
Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, just blocks from where it was founded nearly
two centuries ago.
###
Renee
Cho
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Riverkeeper, Inc.
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F: 914-478-4527
www.riverkeeper.org
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Hudson. Protecting Our Communities.
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