DEP: Newtown Creek Sewage Plant Meets Performance Goals
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City officials say they have has reached a milestone in treating wastewater that pollutes New York Harbor.
The Department of Environmental Protection says the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is meeting a federal performance goal three years ahead of schedule, despite construction on an upgrade that's been ongoing since 1995.
This means the city’s 14 wastewater treatment plants will be able to meet the Clean Water Act’s pollutant removal requirement harbor-wide.
"This wastewater treatment facility, which is located here in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is now fully meeting the EPA federal Clean Water Act standard of removing 85 percent of the solid waste in our wastewater that this plant is treating," said Brooklyn Councilman Stephen Levin.
"We're going to push hard and make sure we operate the plant in as efficient a way as possible to produce the best possible water quality for New York City and its ambient waters," said DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway.
Fifteen months ago, the state and city reached an agreement to improve compliance at the city’s wastewater treatment plants.
Officials credit the cooperative effort and say the results show that the billions of dollars Mayor Michael Bloomberg has invested in wastewater treatment are paying off.