Int. No. 67
By Council Members Deutsch and Brannan
Title
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to placing liability on the city for overtaxed sewer lines and requiring the city to develop a plan to mitigate and prevent sewer backups
Body
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 2 of title 7 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 7-213 to read as follows:
? 7-213 Claims for property damage due to capacity-related sewer backups. a. Definitions. For purposes of this section, the term "capacity-related sewer backup" means a sewer backup caused by overtaxed sewers due to a natural occurrence such as a heavy rainfall or snowmelt.
b. The city is liable to real property owners for real or personal property damage caused by a capacity-related sewer backup.
? 2. Chapter 5 of title 24 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 24-531 to read as follows:
? 24-531 Sewer backup mitigation plan. a. By July 1, 2018, the commissioner of environmental protection shall submit to the mayor and the council, and post on the department's website, an operation and maintenance plan for the city's sewer system.
b. The plan shall include, at a minimum, the following:
1. Sewer backup prevention and response measures;
2. A sewer backup benchmark for the annual reduction of sewer backups, based on the procedures and standards outlined in the United States environmental protection agency administrative compliance order dated August 31, 2016, and a detailed description of any other methodology used to develop the benchmark;
3. Proposed targeted reductions in sewer backups in the portions of the sewer system most heavily impacted by sewer backups;
4. An implementation schedule for the next five years, which will demonstrate that the department has continuously achieve...
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