Carrots and Sticks - Motivating Private Investment in Meeting New York City's Stormwater Management Goals

摘要

Initiated in 2011, the NYC Green Infrastructure Program (the Program) was created to implement green infrastructure improve water quality in NYC waterways. New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is the lead agency for the Program. The Program has as its main goal to improve local water quality through two mechanisms. First, green infrastructure is helping DEP to work toward a CSO volume reduction of 1.67 billion gallons on an annual basis in areas served by conventional combined sewer systems. Second, DEP has recently expanded green infrastructure into high priority areas served by separate storm sewer systems to reduce stormwater runoff pollution and mitigate flooding. Through the Program, DEP and its partner agencies have built over 4,000 green infrastructure assets and continue to scale up green infrastructure implementation on public and private property citywide. DEP expects the Program to achieve 507 million gallons per year CSO reduction by 2020 largely through implementation of rain gardens in the public right of way. Motivating private property green infrastructure implementation remains the largest challenge facing the Program, but also provides the greatest opportunity for future largescale increases in on-site stormwater capture. Private property participation in the Program is critical to its success. The next generation of the Program will include private property retrofit incentives and new stormwater regulations. This manuscript explores the status of NYC's incentive programs and regulations that exist through the Program or through another city-led effort and introduces new incentives or rules in development to propel the private sector into participating in NYC's water quality goals and the next generation of these policies.