Corps Takes Steps to Protect Drinking Water Supply for 9 Million New Yorkers.Business Editors, Environmental Writers NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 7, 2000 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of District announced today stronger measures to protect waters and wetlands in the New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. watershed. These stronger measures, which take effect immediately, reflect the Corps of Engineers commitment to protecting the environmental integrity of this watershed. The comprehensive measures will now require developers to participate in a full public interest review for all large projects affecting wetlands and waterways in the New York City watershed. The Corps met numerous times with the major stakeholders in the watershed including federal and state agencies, local agencies and environmental groups in developing and strengthening the regional conditions. The vast majority of public comments recommended strengthening the regional conditions to provide increased environmental safeguards of the New York City watershed. In addition, the New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of the City of New York. It comprises 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The Council serves as balance of power against the mayor in a "strong" mayor-council government model. passed a resolution requesting the Corps to require individual Clean Water Act permits prior to the dredging or filling of wetlands in order to protect the public health of nearly nine million New Yorkers who rely on the New York City drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. supply. The newly imposed conditions are on top of stronger nationwide changes implemented last June which provided a substantial increase in protection for the aquatic environment. Those changes benefited the nation's aquatic environment by increasing protection to critical resource waters and within the 100-year floodplain floodplain, level land along the course of a river formed by the deposition of sediment during periodic floods. Floodplains contain such features as levees, backswamps, delta plains, and oxbow lakes. while continuing to authorize projects with minimal adverse effects. "These changes to the nationwide permit program reflect the Administration's, including the Army's, commitment to protecting the nation's wetlands and reducing damages to communities from flooding," said Michael Davis Michael Davis or Mike Davis may refer to:
"The wetlands are the kidneys of many of our ecosystems," said Rich Tomer, Acting Regulatory Branch Chief for the Corps' New York District. "Ecosystems like the New York City watershed provide water purification  It has been suggested that , , and be merged into this article or section. functions through trapping sediments, binding contaminants as well as dispersing and reducing floodflows which can otherwise erode and degrade watersheds."
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