Results tagged “water”

Mayor Bloomberg will prove he's not scared of no stinkin' canal when he visits Gowanus later today to announce the “start” of his $150-million effort to improve water quality there. Currently he's up against the fed's push to turn the Gowanus Canal into a Superfund site; something he believes will be too expensive, take too long and ruin the future re$idential area with a toxic stigma.

     

As part of Lincoln Center's extensive (and expensive) renovation, the beloved Revson fountain has been reimagined as well. Instead of the traditional low walled fountain, architects Diller, Scofido + Renfro created a "floating granite ring" around the water. From the press release:

[UPDATE BELOW, with video] State Senator Hiram Monserrate's girlfriend told hospital workers he had beaten her and slashed her face only because she was drunk, Monserrate's lawyer said yesterday. "Were not blaming her for anything," said famed defense lawyer Joe Tacopina. "But intoxication impairs one's ability to perceive." The Post also notes that Tacopina blamed a "language barrier."

Doesn't everyone in Williamsburg know that drinking out of a plastic water bottle (or a dated Sigg bottle) will lead to certain death*? One water consumer ordered a case of Poland Spring to the mailroom recently (is this something that people do?), only to have it stolen. The bisphenol-A has clearly gone to their head, as they skipped right over passive-aggressive and penned an aggressive-aggressive note to the thief, wishing them to choke. A ransom note, declaring the water was "fine," was posted in reply. One tenant in the building says, "This goes a long way to explaining my love/hate relationship with my neighbors."

[UPDATE BELOW] With bills to ban bottled water and New Yorkers urged to drink what's flowing from the tap, there's a good chance many of you have Sigg bottles. If only for the fact that Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood do. Well, bad news: Sigg has acknowledged the resin in bottles made before August 2008 have “trace amounts’’ of BPA (bisphenol A), prompting the Boston Globe to ask, "Et Tu, Sigg?" Not only is the controversial chemical the same one that brought Nalgene sales down, but the company has allegedly known of its presence in their bottles since 2006.

The Bronx swamp's green water is glowing because the Department of Environmental Protection put dye in it to figure out where the water was coming from, NY1 reports. The waterway formed over abandoned freight train tracks, but it's nowhere near as glamorous as the High Line. The sanitation department has been cleaning out the trash, and the network reports that on August 22nd the city starting pumping out the water, even though they still don't know who owns the property. Locals seem to be happy with the progress, and one told them, "I am still getting bitten by mosquitoes, because as they clean it there are still mosquitoes. But it is getting cleaner now." The city is researching putting a drainage system in; as for the mystery of where the water is coming from, one man says, "There in that tunnel, I remember when I walked under there was running water on the walls. I believe it could be a river or a natural stream that actually may be running and pouring water in. The water was clean, crystal clear. As they were pumping it out, it became more and more clear."

Back on May 27, 1911 Coney Island was doing worse off than it is today, with Dreamland Park in flames for a full 18 hours, burning to the ground and never again being rebuilt as it was. But a piece of the glory days was just found underwater; the NY Post reports that local divers are bringing up a piece of the past: a massive 500-lb bell that sunk to the ocean floor with the rest of the pier. Diver Gene Ritter told the paper, "I knew the bell existed, but I never dreamed I would find it. I thought it would be buried in mud. I was stunned, especially over the incredible shape the bell is in."

It's conventional wisdom that the most important ingredient in New York bagels is NYC tap water. So today a south Florida company, The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co., has started selling bagels that owner Steve Fassberg claims taste just like our bagels—because they're made with "Brooklyn water." The effect isn't achieved by a tap water pipeline from Brooklyn, but by an elaborate water filtration system, enclosed behind a glass wall in the restaurant. Fassberg, a Flatbush native, tells the Sun Sentinel, "We have scientific proof to back up every state of the process." And the man behind the water system, Alfie Lipshultz, declares, "By the time it gets past our systems, it's Brooklyn water. We make it ultra pure to begin with and then we reinsert those nuances that make it Brooklyn water." He declined to elaborate on just what those nuances are, but we detect strong notes of B.S. and chutzpah. Back in 2006, the owner of Terrace Bagels hauled 150 gallons of filtered New Jersey water to Brooklyn, made a batch of bagels, and declared, "The bagels came out just as good. In towns in New Jersey you can’t find a decent bagel. I don’t know if that’s the water or the people that make them."

                     

Yesterday afternoon, as the air temperature was around the 20-degree mark, the Polar Bear Club celebrated New Year's Day in their traditional style: in the freezing cold waters off Coney Island. TIME Magazine takes a look at the tradition and talked to the club's head honcho. They note that the annual plunge has been going on since 1903, and that this year, nearly 700 were expected to take a dip while thousands watched from land.

City Councilmen Eric Gioia of Queens and Simcha Felder of Brooklyn will introduce a bill next week that would prohibit the city from buying bottled water and water coolers for workers at city agencies, the Daily News reports. At a press conference yesterday, the two councilmen said taxpayers could save $2 million a year by having municipal offices switch to systems that filter tap water. Felder himself installed a $400 heating and cooling water filter in his office this year, and he told reporters, "It is hypocritical for the city to buy bottled water while urging New Yorkers to drink tap." In addition to saving money, the bill would lessen the city's carbon footprint and waste, without sacrificing taste. Over the summer, NYC placed second in a regional tap-water tasting contest, bested only by Bethpage on Long Island.

Just as we were patting ourselves on the backs for our top shelf tap water, a Bushwick local went and tested their own H2O after it began stinking up shower time and dish duty with chlorine fumes. BushwickBK used a water testing kit to analyze pH levels, alkalinity, chlorine, total hardness, iron, copper, and nitrites. The results? "My tap water scored a 4 out of 10 in total chlorine content, which is safe according to Pro-Lab pamphlet, but the water in the Brita pitcher recorded a 0.2 out of 10 total chlorine content." However, the test showed that it was acidic (or “soft”) which can mean there are heavy metals and/or lead present (a lead test costs $30 and wasn't performed). They report the test "recorded a pH of 5, the level of acidity in coffee...and my Brita pitcher only increased the acidity in the water, pushing it down to a 3, the level of orange juice and vinegar." Yikes! If you want to perform your own tap water test, there are kits available for $10. And if you're in the beer-making biz, note that low pH levels are good for it, "The German immigrants that dominated Bushwick in the mid-1800s got filthy rich off the water acidity."

You'll recall that neighbors living near the revoltingly trendy Delicatessen in Soho are getting really fed up with all the obnoxious tools blathering through the night, with one man going so far as to urinate down onto the roof, which is part glass. Could this be the same scold who led a near-riot last night, according to this priceless email sent to Eater by one witness? "Some young super-angry dude storms up to the bar and starts laying into the bartending staff screaming shit like, 'Fuck you!!! Fuck your restaurant!!! Fuck your hipstery little patrons who think they are so fucking cool!!! People fucking live on this block!!! I can hear these people screaming outside my fucking apartment all fucking night!!!'" The situation escalated "when a bunch of people in the apartments above the sidewalk tables simultaneously dumped buckets of water down on the people dining below." Worse, it wasn't even sparkling water!

An unidentified homeless man got sent on a Dickensian misadventure last December after he made the mistake of knocking on the door of NYPD counterterrorism czar Richard Falkenrath (pictured) to ask for a glass of water. Like other czars, Falkenrath is not known for his compassion, and he promptly alerted the local constabulary to the parched roustabout's presence in his Bronx neighborhood. Cops questioned the man and released him, but officers in the NYPD's intelligence threat assessment unit, which handles threats against public officials, later flagged the man's name so they would be informed if he was arrested again. They also notified the Joint Terrorist Task Force, which Falkenrath oversees.

You may recall that back in July our tap water placed 2nd in a tap water taste test, coming in behind Bethpage (wherever that is). Well, we've been vindicated, because at the NY State Fair in Syracuse--we placed 1st! The New York State Department of Health has announced that NYC "won the coveted title for best-tasting drinking water in New York over 150 other municipal water systems during the final competition." However, they note it's a "nonscientific competition," and the Health Commissioner downplayed the achievement by declaring:"Considering that NYC's water comes from reservoirs in Delaware, Greene, Ulster, Putnam, Westchester, Schoharie, Sullivan and Dutchess counties, these counties are also winners." Whatever, the blue ribbon is all ours...along with the A grade Riverkeeper gave us for tap water back in May.

In a surprise turn of events, the Gowanus Canal may be rising above that whole gonohorrea p.r. nightmare – the new word on the street is that its water could be a source of antibiotics!

This morning the American Museum of Natural History hosted a Tap Water Taste-off on their steps. New York City was one of five area communities competing for the title of tastiest tap water in the state during the event. Who came out on top at the 2008 regional taste-off contest? Sadly, we were robbed, with Bethpage in Nassau County grabbing the blue ribbon. The good news is NYC came in 2nd! With that kind of placement, the city will represent during the big event at the New York State Fair on August 26th.

     

A reader sent us some photos of retired subway cars traveling by barge to their watery graves. Once hitting the correct latitude they're dumped overboard to create natural reefs. Earlier this year the reef program proved to be too popular in Delaware, where subway cars were sent on the MTA's dime. Reportedly they're adding tanks, refrigerators, shopping carts and washing machines to the ocean floor in order to expand the reef.

Good news for metro mammals; the New York City tap water is still safe to drink, according to a report card released yesterday by Riverkeeper and the Clean Drinking Water Coalition. The longstanding environmental advocacy group gives our water system A grades for reducing fecal coliform from waterfowl, managing stormwater runoff and waterborne disease risk assessment. High-five!

Roughly six years have passed since the controversial Red Hook IKEA was first proposed, further dividing an already fragmented community. Next month the 346,000-square-foot store, the first IKEA in New York City, will finally open on Beard Street, and, you guessed it, the community is still divided. John McGettrick, co-chair of the Red Hook Civic Alliance, insists IKEA is a waste of 22 acres of prime waterfront property and will create a traffic nightmare on Red Hook’s quaint back streets.

This morning, New York Water Taxi introduced their new commuter ferry route for residents of the Rockaways in Queens. While it's not a straight shot--it stops once at the Brooklyn Army Terminal--it will move up to 400 commuters from Riis Landing to Wall St.'s Pier 11.

The specialty beverage industry – particularly Smart Water – is now the recipient of a clever parody from Brooklyn designer/photographer Till Krautkramer, who’s rolled out an elaborate marketing campaign for a line of beverages called MeatWater. The website proudly declares that the drink uses “only the finest protein” for such “High Efficiency Survival Beverages” as Dirty Hot Dog, “an authentic taste of the Big Apple you can sip through a straw!” and Italian Sausage:

Mangia! You’ll feel like youse is at da famous San Gennaro festival in New Yawk’s Little Italy after drinkin’ dis. But widdout the annoying bridge-and-tunnel crowds askin’ “How much is doze zeppoles? Tree fuh a dollah? I’ll take tree.”

New York water consumers (i.e. everyone) are about to take a bath once the City's Water Board follows through with its recommendation to raise rates by 14.5%, which it was scheduled to propose Friday. The rate hike proposal comes less than a year after the most recent increase of 11.5% in 2007. To its credit, the Water Board has been cracking down on freeloaders. After the City Council nixed a proposed 18% hike, water scofflaws who ignored their bills started to have their water shut off for the first time in modern memory.

As some remind us of the possibility of a New York City underwater, Charity:Water asks us to imagine a New York City with dry taps. Not only that, but imagine Brooklynite and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Connelly having to walk to Central Park to gather dirty water for her family (though Prospect Park would have been a lot closer to her house). Where is Paul Bettany during all of this?

The Frying Pan, the party boat known for its rusty charm in a sea of slick Chelsea nightclubs, hasn't invited anyone to come aboard in quite some time. Last year it moved from Pier 63, its home for a decade, to Pier 66...but never reopened due to lack of permits.

To raise money and awareness about the lack of clean and accessible drinking water, which is the second largest worldwide killer of children under five, the Tap Project is happening again in New York City (and nationwide) through March 22nd, World Water Day. Select restaurants will be inviting customers to donate a minimum of $1 for the tap water they would normally get for free; the money goes to UNICEF.

Members of the Park Slope Co-op are expected to vote to eliminate the sale of bottled water this spring. The proposal comes as the environmental costs of bottled water are being widely publicized, including a city advertising campaign encouraging people to forgo bottled water and drink from the tap.