DEC To Reclassify 30 Waterways In NYC

By Idy Perl

Fifty years ago, the Clean Water Act was passed to establish guidelines and standards to clean the waterways in the U.S.. The act assigned classifications to bodies of water to determine which ones were safe for swimming, boating, fishing, or should be avoided due to contamination. 

This week the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced that they will be upgrading the regulations and standards of 30 waterways in NYC so they can be reclassified to expand the areas suitable for swimming and fishing. 

“DEC and our partners are making a generational leap in protecting the quality of our waters and public health for the future with today’s announcement,” DEC Acting Commissioner Lefton said. “These landmark regulatory changes are unprecedented, building upon decades of ongoing progress to transform the waters in and around New York City. Collectively, New Yorkers are making significant progress in improving water quality and the new requirements announced today would provide additional ecological benefits and positive effects to the region’s fishing, boating, and swimming conditions.”