Calling all advocates for clean water equity in NYC!
New York City relies on an outdated billing scheme to fund its water and wastewater systems. Every property owner pays a fee based on water consumption. A portion of that fee helps cover the city’s stormwater and sewage management expenses. Under this scheme, properties that burden the sewer system with the most stormwater runoff — such as parking lots and big box stores with large impervious surfaces — could pay less than a single family apartment owner. (Confusing? Sure is. See SWIM Coalition’s Fact Sheet for more details.) Many cities across the country have abandoned this the water consumption-based fee for a rate structure that is far more equitable and accounts for stormwater runoff expenses.
Join fellow advocates at the NYC Water Board hearings to call for the integration of stormwater capture costs (based on the impervious area of a property) into existing sewer charges to promote green infrastructure, and for the implementation of tiered water rates to promote water conservation. These are two key ways to restructure water rates to incentivize green infrastructure and water conservation, reduce overall capital and operating costs for DEP, help improve water quality and mitigate flooding. See SWIM Coalition’s Fact Sheet for more details.
Learn more on the Cut The Crap NYC – Water Rates information page.