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 ›

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 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 ›

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 ›

Dozens of houses in Queens and Nassau County are nearly uninhabitable after Monday's storms caused floods, broken windows, and (eww) sewer leaks. At least 100 people had to be evacuated from their homes, and an 8-foot wall section collapse ruptured a gas main. A foundation wall collapsed in the home of Shabana Patel, who said, “It was a dream house for us the two of us have worked so hard. We didn’t know something like this would destroy my home." more ›

Flushing the toilet may cost New Yorkers nearly 13% more in coming months due to a water rate hike proposed today by the Department of Environmental Protection [pdf here]. The increase, which would raise the average apartment dweller's annual rate from $470 to $513 and single-family homeowner's from $723 to $816, will take effect July 1st and be the fourth of its kind in four years. That is, unless the six public hearings scheduled for May attract enough disgruntled New Yorkers to make some darn persuasive testimony in opposition. more ›

A pair of tiny southeastern Queens neighborhoods have finally been linked to the city's sewer system, meaning the water that goes down residents' drains will no longer be dumped directly into a creek that terminates in Jamaica Bay. "When I first moved here, they told me, 'You're all getting sewers soon,'" said Lenny Zamiello, 88, a retired carpet and linoleum installer. "That was 60 years ago." more ›

The 13-month, multinational search to find a new commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection came to a surprising close this week when Mayor Bloomberg selected a 36-year-old aide with limited environmental experience who works a few desks away from the Mayor in City Hall. more ›

Jerome Park has always had its share of fans. Since it was acquired by the city in 1940, the north Bronx patch of greenery, which rests adjacent to the Jerome Park Reservoir, has provided hundreds of Bronx High School of Science and Lehman College students with a place to read, walk and neck (we're talking about the good ole' innocent days here). more ›

Two female employees with the city's Department of Environmental Protection are suing the department on federal discrimination charges. The Daily News reports, "Lillian Padilla and Magda Rodriguez say they get the hardest and dirtiest jobs, are routinely threatened and insulted, and are denied showers or changing rooms after working in sewage." The pair say they've had pornography put in their trucks, been called "bitches" and "dykes" (they are lesbians) and been threatened when they've complained. They also claim that other female employees have left due to the atmosphere—out of the 426 DEP laborers, five are women—with Padilla adding, "I once had a supervisor telling me that he would never have a woman telling a man what to do." The DEP said it is investigating the complaint, which has been filed with the EEOC. Rodriguez said, "I just want the policies changed so that women have equal rights. I have no shower. She has no shower. We work in sewage. That's what we do all day." more ›

The Staten Island Advance reports that thieves, posing as NYC Department of Environmental Protection employees, are targeting senior citizens. Apparently the robbers claim they must "check pipes, read or fix water meters, or collect cash for unpaid water bills," and they have struck five times in the last two months of 2008, taking jewelry, cash and credit cards. The DEP says its employees wear uniforms, show ID and never ask for cash, "We want to alert the community that this is going on and people have to be very careful." According to the Advance, cops think the robbers are part of a "roving band that travels up and down the East Coast, stopping only long enough to accumulate a haul and then leaving for another town before they get caught." more ›

more ›