Home to over 18.9 million people, the New York City Metropolitan Area, consisting of “New York City, Long Island, Northern New Jersey, and Northeastern Pennsylvania” (Vintinner) requires tremendous efforts in waste disposal and clean drinking water. New York City prides itself in the quality of its drinking water that boasts to be the “champagne of drinking waters” (Vintinner). To further protect our valuable resource, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spread the Surface Water Treatment Rule (SWTR), giving Governor Pataki the options to filter the source water or meet a level of water quality.
The tremendous costs of building and maintaining the filtration plant in the Catskill Delaware water supply would paid by the New Yorkers themselves but it would hit the lower income families the most, doubling their water rates, and effectively closing the housing projects where landlords cannot raise additional water costs. While the argument of maintaining water quality remains one of the utmost important priorities for the metropolitan area, if there is not enough funding to carry it through, it will need the minimal amount of resources possible to keep it functioning.
Mayor Bloomberg announced on November 30th that Hurricane Sandy victims will have relief from their water bills. They have not had access to their supplies because of their damaged property. Any “residential and commercial buildings that have been red- or yellow-tagged by the city will not have to make a monthly water bill payment until June 1, 2013” (Wrobleski). Bloomberg said, “by deferring water bill payments and other charges, New Yorkers can focus their attention and money on more immediate and pressing needs.” New Yorkers currently need time to recooperate and having to pay more to filter the water is not our immediate priority. Perhaps by next year when people have resituated into new neighborhoods and new living conditions, it would be logical to develop a filtration system that protects the purity of the water in Catskill/Delaware water supply.
The reality is that New York is not ready for another major financial burden while in its recovery state. Thus, the responsibility of paying for these burdens should fall on the company that are pollution or poorly managing their wastes. One of the major causes of microbial contamination is poor waste disposal by large municipal waste treatment systems. Economists say that companies involve in these activities and who are largely responsible should pay for their damage to society or a Pigovian Tax.
Source:
Wrobleski, Tom. “NYC to give Hurricane Sandy victims more time to pay water bills.” Staten Island Advance[Staten Island] 30 Nov 2012, n. pag. Web. 2 Dec. 2012. <http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/city_to_give_hurricane_sandy_v.html>.
