New York City’s surrounding waterways are some of the city’s greatest and most valuable assets in the areas of tourism, trade, and water supply. For the past decade, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has invested over $10 billion in upgrading and maintaining the quality of NYC’s waterways. Thus far, over 90% of water sources have come to meet federal standards, while the rest of the outstanding waterways remain as one of the biggest problems that the city and the DEP face. NYC functions off a combined sewage system (CSO)- a system that treats both stormwater runoff and sanitary waste. However, it is common for these existing CSOs to overflow during heavy rain or snowstorms because they are unable to handle the excess flow, which
