Sewer Service (SC1)

The water and sewer network of any city is fundamental to the health and safety of citizens as well as their quality of life and the operation of the city and the environment that surrounds it. The Cities of New York and Chicago are no exception.

The sewer system under the streets and buildings of NYC collects stormwater from buildings as well as sewage. The sewers in this system are connected to larger trunk sewers that are connected to even larger interceptor sewer that carries wastewater from smaller pipes to the City’s 14 water waste treatment plants (WWTP).

About half of NYC’s land area has a combined sewer system that conveys sanitary sewage and industrial wastewater as well as stormwater. There are no problems when the weather is dry and the combined sewers operate successfully as sanitary sewers, conveying this waste material to the WWTPs. But in wet weather, there is a danger that large volumes of rainwater runoff may enter the system. Since the WWTPs were designed to handle only about double the dry-weather flow, engineers have designed regulators that are built into the combined sewers, and which act as relief valves. This avoids flooding the WWTPs. But what happens during storms is that when the combined sewage-rainwater flow reaches the regulators, the excess water is directed into the nearest waterway, the Hudson River for example. This untreated overflow is known as combined sewer overflow (CSO).

CSO is a major concern. In addition to untreated sewage, it contains street garbage and other pollutants like oil and gasoline, as well as pollutants from various industrial facilities. As a result, NYC is doing all it can to upgrade and improve its water and sewer infrastructure and comply with the Federal Clean Water Act that sets CSO standards.

Of course, most of the other 50% of NYC’s land area, including parts of Staten Island and Queens, are served by separate stormwater drains and sewers. These convey sanitary sewage to the WWTPs and untreated stormwater through separate sewers to the nearest waterways. 

But there are also parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and south-western Staten Island that don’t yet have access to the City’s sanitary sewer system. In these areas, there are septic systems with underground tanks.

Like NYC, Chicago has CSOs. Their solution is the Tunnel and Reservoir System Plan (TARP) that holds stormwater in reservoirs until the City’s wastewater treatment plants have the capacity to treat it. This effectively prevents raw sewage being discharged into the Chicago River – which is what used to happen.

The NYC Plumbing Code specifies what materials may be used for above-ground drainage and vent pipes, underground building sanitary drainage and vent pipes, and building sewer pipes, as well as pipe fittings for installation of sanitary drainage systems for residential buildings up to five stories in height.  

The DEP is responsible for reading water meters and both charging and collecting all fees that are related to water and sewer usage in NYC and its surrounding communities. However, water and sewer rates are set by the NYC Water Board. Payments are made to the Water Board and they may be paid in person, posted, paid by phone or via a portable device, or they may be paid online.

Most of the smaller (under five family) buildings are billed on metered usage of water that is added to the sewer charge on bills that are generated once every three months.

Larger residential properties with four or more dwelling units are often enrolled in the multi-family conservation program (MCP) that charges a flat annual amount for water and sewage. These charges are based on frontage rates determined by the size of the front width of the building and include the first story, one bathtub or shower, and a dwelling unit. These rates also apply to corner-lot buildings. There is also a rear building fee based on each 25-foot front or a fraction of this plus an additional fee for each additional story.

Additionally, there are extra dwelling unit rates as well as a boarder, lodger, or roomer rate, and various fixtures charges and other miscellaneous rates, some of which relate to specific business operations including hospitals, laundries, florists, and dentists.

Since 1985, all new commercial and industrial properties in NYC have been metered and bills are based on metered consumption.