Water Watch NYC

Everything you need to know about water in NYC.

Author Archives: Hershel


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NYC Water Board Proposes Significant Rate Increase

On May 3rd, the NYC Water Board met with the DEP. The DEP proposed to raise the water sewer rate by 8.5% resulting in a rate of $12.61/HCF, effective 7/1/2024. This represents the largest increase since Mike Bloomberg left office. This large increase is being pushed primarily by the rental agreement. We recommend property managers oppose this large increase.

DEP Commissioner, Rohit T. Aggarwala asked for The Multi-Family Conservation Program (MCP) to be rolled back another year. This is not the first time MCP was rolled back, many commissioners before Commissioner Aggarwala promised to address MCP but never have.   

You can see our thoughts on MCP by clicking on the link below

Is Frontage Dead?


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Ashokan Water will be presenting at BOMA 2024.

Ashokan Water will be presenting “REDUCE WATER COSTS, FOOTPRINT, AND FOSTER A CULTURE OF WATER CONSERVATION” at BOMA 2024.

Join us for a presentation on revolutionizing water management practices and fostering a culture of conservation. Hershel Weiss, Chief Engineer at Ashokan Water Services, will be talking about the success story of our collaboration with Chelsea Market, owned by Google, in water challenges and implementing sustainable solutions.

Key Highlights:

Comprehensive Solution: Discover how Ashokan Water Services identified and monitored 148 water end-use areas at Chelsea Market, installing sub-meters and AquaSync’s cloud platform for real-time data access.

Impactful Results: Learn about Chelsea Market’s remarkable achievements, including over 95% water cost recovery, significant reduction in water footprint, and proactive leak detection leading to prompt actions.

By the end of the presentation, participants will gain insights into:

  1. Understand the challenges that commercial buildings like Chelsea Market face in managing water costs and addressing water conservation.
  2. Explore such as sub-metering, to monitor water consumption and detect leaks in commercial buildings.
  3. Learn about the positive impact of effective water management solutions on reducing water footprints, fostering conservation cultures, and enabling proactive leak detection.
  4. Discover the role of technology, such as AquaSync, in providing real-time water usage data and improving water management practices in commercial settings.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about sustainable water practices and cost-effective operations.

Session Number: SS101
Monday, July 15, 2024:1:00 PM -1:30 PM

At BOMA International, Philadelphia.

More info at https://www.bomaconvention.org/BOMA2024/Public/SessionDetails.aspx?FromPage=Sessions.aspx&SessionID=3463&SessionDateID=140


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Good News: Low-income families will receive assistance paying water bills

Governor Kathy Hochul announced that $69.8 million in federal funds will be made available to support low-income New Yorkers in paying past-due bills for drinking water and wastewater. The Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP), provides eligible applicants with “up to $2,500 for drinking water arrears and $2,500 for wastewater arrears to help them avoid service interruptions when the moratorium on shutoffs expires next month.”

This initiative will assist approximately 105,000 homes within New York.

According to Governor Hochul, the program was created to help struggling New Yorkers recover from the pandemic. Anyone who is interested can simply apply online.

Ashokan Water Services Contributed to this report


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Kathryn Garcia – The Environmental Candidate

New York City mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia

With the Democratic Mayoral primaries fast approaching, we at Ashokan Water have environmental concerns on the forefront of our minds. While many of the candidates have taken the time to address the environmental issues facing the City; none are as well versed with the issues as Kathryn Garcia. Ms. Garcia has spent her career within government working on the city’s largest environmental issues. Her work for our City speaks for itself.  Having held several positions in the NYC Department of Environmental Protection under Mayor Bloomberg, Kathryn Garcia was tasked with overseeing The Bureau of Water Supply, the Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations, and the Bureau of Wastewater Treatment. In later years, Ms. Garcia went on to become the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Sanitation where she again tackled the city’s environmental issues. Garcia helped to pass the city’s waste equity law (in 2018) helping distribute the waste burden on the city’s communities equally and not more heavily on lower income communities as had previously been the case. 

The change that Kathryn Garcia has implemented in our city proves that she truly understands and cares about environmental protection and conservation within our city. Other candidates speak about the environment, but Garcia is a true technocrat, and clearly the environmental candidate to rally behind.


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DEP Holds Important Meeting When Everyone Is On Vacation

On December 31st, the DEP held a virtual meeting to discuss Title 15, Chapter 20 of the Rules of the City of New York (RCNY), allowing attendees to voice their comments and concerns. Despite the meeting being held at a time when many people typically take time off, Hershel Weiss attended, and submitted a summation of his thoughts to the DEP afterwards, which you can read below:

My name is Hershel Weiss. I am a mechanical engineer, NYC Master Licensed Plumber, Past President of American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE), member of Building Owners and Managers (BOMA) Plumbing Committee,   principal at Ashokan, a firm specializing in Meter Reading and Backflow Testing. I have represented ASPE at the NYC Plumbing Code Adoption committee since its inceptions. 

 I cannot intelligently discuss the proposed modifications to RCNY chapter 20 of Title 15 in three minutes but would like to discuss the process.  A committee exists to review the NYC Plumbing Code, comprising members of the DOB, FDNY,  Con- Ed, National Grid, HPD,  Housing Authority, SCA, Parks Department, Port Authority, REBNY, BOMA,  Master Plumbers Council, Plumbing Foundation, American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE), American Society of Sanitary Engineers,  ASHRAE, all the plumbing unions and the largest plumbing and MEP firms, and the DEP.  We meet to discuss and propose all plumbing code changes. The meetings are well-attended, conducted in a cordial manner and result in a well thought out regulations and buildings codes. This process used to apply to both the Plumbing code and RCNY Chapter 20 of Title 15 , but  the DEP has circumvented the process –  as being done today.

I cannot highlight the importance of a committee meeting to discuss each and every modification proposed today,  but would like to touch on one sample issue. Years ago, the DEP had a plumbing and subsurface committee. At that committee, the DEP proposed requiring curb valves for domestic services under 2” as is being proposed today. At that time the following objections were raised:

  1. Real estate interest and homeowners was opposed to the cost estimated as an increase of 20- 35% in the price of water main replacement since an additional excavation would have to be created in the sidewalk. I am sure these parties are still opposed to the curb valve requirement, but have not been informed of this hearing. Furthermore, does the water board know that their water main insurance will increase by a third?
  2. The Parks Department was concerned about tree pits.
  3. Landmarks wanted an exemption where streets have bluestone pavers.
    1. None of these concerns are address in this modification

This is a simple item affecting multiple stakeholders. Other modification being proposed are much more complicated and warrant a conversation with all stakeholders.

I recommend that the proposed changes be shelved until a committee is convened to review each modification. I called many of the members of NYC’s Plumbing Code committee and they were not aware of today’s meeting. It is time for the DEP to stop operating in the dark.  Modifications to the law should not take place in meetings restricted to 3 minutes on New Year’s Eve.

Warren Liebold – We Will Miss You.

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We are saddened to hear the news of Warren Liebold’s passing on August 20th. Warren was a colleague, friend, and mentor to all of us at Ashokan. Nothing happened in the field of water conservation without his involvement. We first met when I was working for HPD and Warren was brought on by then DEP Commissioner Al Appleton to promote a new DEP rebate program. I assumed it would go nowhere. A year later it grew into the largest water conservation program in the United States, and as a result, water consumption plummeted in NYC. He realized that greater reductions could be obtained by holding property owners responsible for their consumption, and rolled NYC’s water meter installation program. He then decided to provide consumers with transparency tools to monitor consumption and created New York’s Automatic Meter reading Program. Due to his perseverance, everything he did was a great success. 

In 1997, I discussed opening a water services company with him and he recommended that I name it “Ashokan”. 

For twenty years, we discuss food and film, but I was awed by Warren’s encyclopedic knowledge of water conservation. Everyone in the industry knew that if you attended a water conservation seminar, Warren would be speaking and announcing a new program. No building code relating to water took place without Warren. We worked together on NYC’s Adoption of the International Plumbing Code, The Mayor’s Green Code Task Force, Water Reuse guidelines, etc. If you live in NYC and take the water for granted, you owe a debt of gratitude to Warren Liebold. He will be missed. 


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drought20161104bigThe entire New York State is now on “Drought Watch”. The category is merely  advisory, and does not mandate conservation. I hope the residents of NYC appreciate how the DEP’s large water reserves insulating them from what could be a major inconvenience. Enjoy the sunny days, but pray for rain in the Watershed.


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NYC Reservoir Level

Last weeks rain barely hit the Catskills. The small amount of moisture fell on dry soil, and was quickly absorbed. New York’s reservoir level keeps dropping. It now stands at 56.8%. How low can the reservoirs go before the city becomes concerned and declares a drought?


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NYC Drought

New York’s reservoir level has dropped to 57.9% of capacity. Back in the eighties the Water Board issued droughts warnings when the reservoir level fell below 60%. Due to years of water conservation, NYC is sitting pretty, while the rest of the North-East is experiencing a major drought. How low can it go before the

To be honest the city is reluctant to declare a drought in the autumn, when there is a good chance that the winter precipitation will refill the reservoirs.

The questions is “How low can it go before a drought is declared”.


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Is Frontage Dead?

One year ago, I lamented the fact that the Water Board  had not kept its  20 year old promise to  eliminate frontage.  It  just changed the program name from Frontage to Multifamily Conservation Program (MCP) .  MCP is a “Green” name.  It even has the word Conservation in it.  At that time I acknowledged that the MCP had one advantage over frontage and that was the DEP requirement that owners repair all  leaks and   install low flow water fixtures in 2015.

Well, the Water Board’s  new rate schedule will roll back the compliance date to 2016.  Property owners can safely  stay on the MCP program without taking any conservation measures for three more years.  If past performance is any indication of things to come, the City will most likely extend the deadline for compliance each time it approaches.  Unfortunately, nothing will change until NYC is faced with a drought and then it will be too late to accomplish anything.

Long Live Frontage a.k.A. MCP.