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Continue reading →: Ten Ways to Save the DEP
One of the first actions of Mayor Bloomberg’s third term was to appoint Caswell F. Holloway as the new DEP Commissioner. Commissioner Holloway has his hands full. The Water Board is blaming conservation for projected double-digit increases in water/sewer rates. Environmental groups and the New York Times are focusing in…
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Continue reading →: The Water in Our Parks vs. the Water in Our Sinks
I recently came across a membership request postcard from the Prospect Park Alliance touting the restoration of their beautiful Fallkilll Falls. An interesting piece of trivia about Prospect Park is that its whole water system — lakes, waterfalls, beaches, islands — is entirely man-made. It’s a pretty fantastic feat of…
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Continue reading →: A Prediction
Now that New York City’s mayoral election is officially over (though, unofficially, it was over before it started), it is safe to discuss what we at WaterWatchNYC expect of the DEP and the Water Board in the near future. We have already heard about how water consumption continues to drop…
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Continue reading →: Lindsey Ganson Appointed Acting Water Board Treasurer
At a special meeting of the Water Board this morning, the Board members approved the appointment of Lindsey Ganson, Chief of Staff of the DEP, as Acting Treasurer of the Water Board. Ganson was hired as former DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd’s Chief of Staff in early 2008. We wish her…
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Continue reading →: William Kusterbeck No Longer Water Board Treasurer
As of late last week (UPDATE 9/9/09: effective the afternoon of Thursday, September 3), William Kusterbeck is longer the New York City Water Board Treasurer. Details surrounding his departure are, as of now, unknown. We will keep you posted as the story develops. Mr. Kusterbeck has been treasurer since 1985…
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Continue reading →: Water/Sewer Rates Going Up Today
As it does on every July 1, the DEP’s water and sewer rate goes up today. The new rate is $6.76 per hundred cubic feet (hcf) of water, or $2.61 per hcf as a water charge and $4.15 per hcf as a sewer charge (159% of the water charge). One…
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Continue reading →: Conservation or Economy?
At last Friday’s Water Board meeting, it was announced that the 6% drop in water consumption has increased to above 7%. While the DEP, Water Board and this blog have in the past attributed this reduction in water use to conservation, we would now like to explore the possibility that…
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DEP Lays Out Specifics on Amnesty Program
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Continue reading →: DEP Lays Out Specifics on Amnesty ProgramWe’ve been tracking the DEP’s new Denial of Access and Theft of Services regulations for a long time. The last thing the DEP told the public about these new regulations was that there’d be a 120-day amnesty period beginning July 1 during which time customers found to be stealing water…
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Continue reading →: Big Surprises at the Rate Approval Hearing
The Water Board held its annual meeting this morning (May 15, 2009) to approve the changes to the Water/Sewer Rate Schedule for Fiscal Year 2010. As you know, WaterWatchNYC protested three major elements of the new rate structure pertaining to the DEP’s proposed “Denial of Access” and “Theft of Services”…
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Continue reading →: The Delaware Aqueduct Leak
The 85-mile long Delaware Aqueduct, which is the longest continuous tunnel in the world, provides New York City with about half of its drinking water and as residents of Wawarsing, New York know all too well, it has been leaking for about twenty years. Your average New Yorker doesn’t know…
Hello,
I’m Hershel
As President of Ashokan Water Services, Hershel has spent the last twenty years coordinating water conservation efforts for over 8,500 New York properties. In response to the North East droughts in the 1980’s, he formed Ashokan with a team of plumbers and engineers. Today Ashokan is a full-service water management company specializing in utility auditing, meter installation, meter reading, water conservation, backflow installation, and testing. Hershel focuses on managing Ashokan’s strategic planning and innovation process.
Hershel currently resides with his family in Brooklyn, New York, is an avid kayaker, and is an active blogger on water issues. He serves on The NYC Sustainability Advisory Board, the Mayor’s Green Codes Task Force, and many more. His personal goal is to minimize the effects of CSO and stormwater runoff within the Hudson River Estuary in order to create a positive impact on New York City’s environment.
For more information about Ashokan Water Services, please visit Ashokan’s website, which is listed below.
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