Council expected to approve treatment plant's expansion.

The City Council is expected to approve in December an $800 million upgrade and expansion of the Newtown Creek Water Pollution Control Plant, New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Joel Miele, Sr. said at a construction industry forum sponsored by the New York Building Congress.

The expansion and upgrade of the facility will reduce discharge into the State's waterways and improve the quality of water throughout the region, Miele said. The upgrade is necessary to increase the plant's waste removal standard from its current 75 percent to the mandated federal Environmental Protection Agency standard of 85 percent, Miele said.

If City Council approves the DEP plan and construction begins, Miele said the 11-year upgrade project would be completed in 2007.

Looking at the water supply issue, Miele said the Watershed Protection Agreement, which is an update of outmoded 43-year-old regulations, has been agreed upon by all major parties. Miele called the plan "fiscally smart and environmentally beneficial," adding it is "a cost-effective approach to one of the City's biggest quality-of-life issues, the quality of its water.

The new watershed plan is needed to comply with the Federal Surface Water Treatment Rule, which requires all cities relying on surface water to filter their water supplies or prove that comprehensive, long-term plans to protect water quality are in place. The water from the system, Miele warns, "faces threats from future economic development and land use."

The object is to "make sure we don't leave the EPA with any doubts about the quality of our water," Miele said. He added that adopting the plan will save New York City from the expense of building a "ruinously costly filtration plant that would cost anywhere from $6 to $8 billion," and would double the bills of water rate payers.

The watershed protection plan will cost rate payers $560 million over five years, with $210 million devoted to acquisition of undeveloped land near upstate reservoirs, streams, wetlands and watercourses considered sensitive to the quality of New York City's drinking water.

The other $350 million will go to establish city-funded partnership programs in watershed communities. This initiative is designed to promote upstate economic development while protecting the city's water supply.

The DEP's current capital plan also allocates $194 million for sewer replacement; $76 million for water mains, and $512 million for water pollution initiatives.

Miele also reported on construction of the third water tunnel, which continues, 600 feet underground, in parts of Brooklyn and Queens. The city currently has invested more than $1 billion on the 60-mile project, which is scheduled for completion in 2020.

Once complete, the tunnel will provide an alternative source for water delivery in the event of disruption; reduce peak flows, which periodically overload tunnels number 1 and number 2; and, for the first time, allow for the older tunnels to be shut down for repair and inspection.