The Environmental Protection Agency a.k.a. The Bureau of Bloodthirsty Job-Killing Werewolves released an expansive report [pdf] last month that recommends a 10-year plan to dredge and replace layers of matter kindly referred to as "sediment" in the Gowanus canal, costing close to $500 million. Per CERCLA, polluters are required to pick up Superfund bills, and as expected, gas companies and other businesses who dumped chemicals and had unprotected sex with the Gowanus Canal are doing their damndest to limit their liability. Add the City of New York to that list: the Department of Environmental Protection says the Gowanus' troubles have little to do with the tons of poop that it pumps into the canal each year. more ›

In July, a four-alarm fire ravaged the engine room of the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Hudson River, sending raw sewage into the Hudson, East and Harlem Rivers. It took the Department of Environmental Protection three days to stop the sewage from pouring into the waterways—but beaches were closed and other water activities were discouraged for weeks after while the cleanup continued. Now it seems the DEP has found the root cause of the damage: a loose nut. more ›

A city sewer engineer for the Department of Environmental Protection, which handles our drinking water and wastewater, made $771,841 last year. However, before you rush out to buy some coveralls, note that Gerald Mistretta—and six other high-grossing colleagues—only earned that much because he worked 16 years without a raise. more ›

A new breed of supercoyote (okay, not really, just some smart ones) are apparently swimming across state lines to eat the housecats of tiny Fisher's Island, on the eastern tip of Long Island Sound. Ten cats have already gone missing! more ›

Rain: asphalt's kryptonite? An enormous sinkhole opened up on Narrows Road North between Targee Street and Richmond Hill Road on Staten Island yesterday, causing major traffic delays and serious commuter headaches. more ›

The NY Times has a dramatic account of the everyday heroics needed to get the uptown wastewater treatment plant working after a devastating fire—wading in 8 feet of raw sewage, anyone? more ›

Last week, after a four-alarm fire shut down the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Harlem, the city dumped millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Hudson River. That dump ended on Friday night but the fallout continues. more ›

Last night at 9:30 p.m., the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant stopped discharging "untreated" sewage into the Hudson River. The plant, which has been in operation since 1986 and treats about 120 million gallons of a wastewater a day, was hobbled by a four-alarm fire on Wednesday that knocked out its engine room pumps. And it was quite an effort from the Department of Environmental Protection. more ›

Good news from the DEP! Our short Metropolitan nightmare of feces-filled rivers may be coming to a close. The DEP is starting to turn the engines back on at the North River wastewater treatment plant, which means that the raw sewage dump that has been going on since Wednesday's fire may soon be over. more ›

It is hot out there but if you are looking to cool down you probably don't want to take a dip in the Hudson. See, because of that four-alarm fire at the North River wastewater treatment plant yesterday the DEP is currently discharging gallons and gallons of raw sewage into the river. more ›

A huge four-alarm blaze broke out today in the North River wastewater treatment plant on the Henry Hudson Parkway. The FDNY says the fire was first reported at 11:46 a.m. and was brought under control—thanks to 39 units and 168 firefighters—by 3 p.m. According to the DEP, which runs the treatment center, the fire started in an engine room. As the fire raged thousands of people were evacuated from the Riverbank State Park which sits on top of the plant. more ›

Yesterday, DEP workers became heroes for Queena Feng after they retrieved her iPhone from a sewer. Feng said the phone slipped out of her pocket and down the drain after leaving her boyfriend's car, but after calling 311 and leaving her number, the DEP scheduled a retrieval date and got her phone back. Because according to the Daily News, the DEP "has a squad of city workers on call, ready to fish dropped valuables out of Gotham's catch basins for free." But what about our tax dollars, etc! more ›

What on earth have you been flushing down your toilet? For the first time ever the Department of Environmental Protection is cleaning out the city's 136 miles of sewers, and superintendent of sewer operations Chris Laudando said, "You're surprised every day as to what comes out of there. You see bricks. You see cans, bottles, grease, hairballs." All of which causes sewage to flood the waterways during storms. more ›

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is looking to the future. The water utility today drops a 75-page, 100-point report on its aims for the next three years. And it is ambitious! We aren't just talking about things like paperless billing, new water rate structures and getting everyone automated meters. We're talking about big picture ideas like harvesting the tons of wastewater we produce daily into clean energy sources, covering water treatment plants in solar energy panels and selling insurance (a "service line protection plan" in their words). more ›

Last week, in light of an audit by the office of the comptroller, we wondered how long it should take to fix a broken fire hydrant (the audit found it took an average of 18.3 days citywide). And today the Department of Environmental Protection, which runs these things, tells us that the situation has improved something fierce since the audit, which looked at stats through 2009. Since setting a new standard that year, the DEP says they have gotten the average repair time down to seven days citywide, below their internal target of 10 days. Nice! more ›

Fire hydrants are an important part of the urban environment. After all, without them how are fire fighters supposed to fight fires? So you'd think keeping New York's 109,217 fire hydrants in good working order would be a top priority for the DEP (which is in charge of them). And yet a new audit from the comptroller's office would prove you wrong. more ›

A Greenpoint woman encountered a damaged sidewalk this weekend on her way to the marathon. A sidewalk so damaged, in fact, that it swallowed her whole! According to the Brooklyn Paper, Philippa Kaye walked right into the 3.5-foot deep hole, located at Flatbush and 5th Avenues in Brooklyn. She has photos, and she does not look happy in them (though one has to wonder how, in broad daylight, a person does not see a hole that large). more ›

Yesterday, the Knicks canceled their home game against the Orlando Magic and Madison Square Garden was closed due to an asbestos scare—while cleaning "asbestos-related materials" in the attic, some debris fell into the arena. Well, the NYC's Department of Environmental Protection declared it safe, with a DEP spokesman saying, "It doesn’t appear that any asbestos was disturbed." That must make the tourists who wanted to see Amare Stoudemire Dwight Howard so MAD!! more ›

With the NJDEP's ruling that water-purifying oysters are at too much of a risk from poachers, environmental group NY/NJ Baykeeper was forced to pull up the oysters it had cultivated along Raritan Bay. Scientists say the oysters could restore the waters to health, but the FDA is worried the oysters, which absorb toxins in the water, could find their way into the edible seafood supply. Christine M. Lynn of NY/NJ Baykeeper told us, "Everyone we work with in New York is as surprised and confused by the NJDEP decision as we are." more ›

A little kitten hailing from the Bronx found itself in the city's sewer system recently. According to the Daily News, 21-year-old Edita Pjetrovic couldn't find her kitten named Motz, and says he likely slipped out the door during a barbecue she was having on Sunday. During her search, a friend at a local pizza shop told her a cat was heard meowing near Morris Park Avenue and White Plains Road—the noise was coming from under a sewer grate. The Department of Environmental Protection to the rescue! Workers helped locate and rescue the cat on Wednesday using video cameras, and Pjetrovic told the paper, "They really helped. They were really kind." Last summer a New Jersey kitten was rescued from the sewers—maybe they're trying to become the sewer gators. more ›

A new city initiative is hoping to save as much of our delicious, award-winning tap water was possible. Rolled out in some Bronx neighborhoods on Monday, the Automated Meter Readers (AMFs) allows property owners to track their water usage up to four times a day online. Bloomberg said at a press conference, “An average single family pays more than $800 for water each year, so if this system leads to relatively modest reductions in water used by, let’s say, 5 percent of homeowners, there will be significant savings for them, and we all know that nobody likes water rates." more ›

Even though anything growing in the Hudson immediately set off gag reflexes, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection doesn't trust Jersey citizens with their better judgment. Saying they can't adequately protect against poachers, the DEP has ordered a halt on oyster bed restoration projects in waters classified as polluted, even though the beds were built in the polluted water to help clean it up. The oysters are not meant for consumption, but the DEP fears people may get sick if poachers attempt to sell the oysters commercially, and that their sale could damage the legal oyster harvesting industry. The ruling just affects Jersey waters, so these kids are safe...for now. more ›

The Department of Environmental Protection announced today that they've completed work on boring and instillation of 8.5 miles of concrete liner in a new tunnel that will bring drinking water (that ideally isn't filled with aresenic) to the surface. Just in time for Drinking Water Week! The $6 billion project should be done with the Manhattan portion by 2013, but you may not have even known it was happening. more ›

While we all wait for a Bald Eagle vs. Coyote face-off—or for those Columbia University coyotes to finish their education and take over the human race—we figured we'd get some facts from the front line. more ›

What's to be done about the Gowanus Canal? Any ideas? If so, the Department of Environmental Protection wants to hear them. The DEP sent out a notice indicating it is seeking proposals for how best to remove storm water from the sewer system and how best to treat it before it is discharged back into the Gowanus Canal watershed and Flushing Bay. The agency plans to award grants totaling $2.9 million to the potential projects, equally divided between the two areas. You better hurry though, because a retired engineer, Bart Chezar from Park Slope, thinks he has a plan that "will not only prevent raw sewage from continuing to foul the already polluted waterway, but also modify the behavior of local residents so that they do their part to keep the waterway clean." more ›