Tonight Romeo N. Ymalay III from Senator Duane's office responds to Stuyvesant Town's brown water issue in a comment on a recent post. We wanted to be sure those dealing with the brown water issue could see the comment so we are reposting it and thank him for following up.
"I regret that the resident of 622 East 20 Street who called Senator Duane's office on Friday felt her concerns were being dismissed. I meant to convey that our office is looking into the brown water problems not only at Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village but in other areas of Senator Duane's district where it has been reported as well.
The New York City Department of Environment Protection (DEP) has indicated that dark or discolored water in Manhattan Community Board 6, which includes ST/PCV, and well as Board 4, 7,8, 9 10 and 11, can be traced to the activation of Shaft 33 of the Third Water Tunnel, which began mid-October. According to DEP's official statement, "This activation changes our water distribution from the Catskills/Delaware Reservoir System to the Croton Reservoir System. The water is safe to drink and does not require boiling, but washing clothes with discolored water may tint or stain garments. If sediment is present in the water, let it settle before drinking. The discoloration is expected to continue for the next 6 weeks."
Nonetheless, our office has reached out to ST/PCV management and asked that they check the complex's own water tanks as well. We will continue to monitor this situation.
Romeo N. Ymalay III
Legislative Aide
NYS Senator Thomas K. Duane
322 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1700
New York, NY 10001
p: 212.633.8052
f: 212.633.8096
e: romeo@tomduane.com
url: www.tomduane.com"
"safe to drink"?
Maybe physically, but mentally I wouldn't be able to get the poo water past my lips.
Problems with brown water have existed at least since I moved into Stuy Town more than 10 years ago. Most of the time the water looks clear but if you compare it with filtered water or bottled water you can see a brownish tint. Ocassionally, about 3-4 times a year, the water has a very dark brown color as shown in the photos here in this blog, but the problem is fixed within a few days generally. This water maybe safe to drink, but I doubt it, specially in the absence of detailed water quality test reports. Therefore, I buy bottled water for drinking, and have a shower filter in my bathroom.
Anyone who has not faced a decision to drink or bathe in such dirty water cannot be truly emphathetic. Romeo is quite willing to voice the official DEP explanation for the appearance of the brown water and provide assurances that it is safe to drink after settling and is only a threat to garments washed in it. Would he drink it? Would he wash his clothes in it? Would Senator Duane? They are going to continue to monitor the situation. Well, we can do that too. So, I must ask what can Senator Duane's office actually do for us that we cannot do ourselves?
Thanks for posting that, Luxie
Does anyone have heat! My apt. is freezing?
Thank god SOMEONE is monitoring this! Thank you.
Theres no heat at 447 East 14th Street.
Debi Mazar just gave me a great idea! Flash mobs at the leasing office!
Hey at least the temperature in your buildings is consistant! TS is blasting the heat in my building, as usual, to the point that I need to have the windows open to prevent from sweating. But of course TS will turn the heat off, again, at about 4am and I will wake up freezing and with a cold. The joys of living in luxury...
If this were a city pipe problem, it would affect many / all buildings, not isolated buildings with a history of brown water.
J the Plumber. Just because others aren't speaking out about their buildings doesn't mean they're not affected. We know Tish Spy doesn't give ANYONE preferential treatment.
No heat at 445 E. 14. It came on for a little while today, but didn't last long.
1) No heat in my apt. No heat in next door neighbors apt. One floor up neighbor had heat and I didn't want to leave!
I called 311. Everyone should call 311 every night if necessary. They are fast about it.
After repeated tries, I did eventually get through to the STPCV switchboard. You know, they were "busy helping others and all that." Of possible interest is that when I called from a friend's--from a number other than my own, they picked up.
But let's not be paranoid...
I told the nice lady who answered that I was "going to chain myself to a excuse-my-language fucking security booth and call all the news stations and newspapers. Tell them that; I'm crazy enough to do it."
2) Romeo: He at least responds, which is more than I can say for, say Garodnick and the other talking heads. But he is wrong in that this isn't a problem that's been chronic the roughly 20 years I've lived, although I use the term loosely, here.
And those cute infant outfits? It really sucks when they come out of machines looking like they were stewed in tea and bark. Just a little warning.
Oh. And those water towers? Jimmy Hoffa is in one and I said it first so I get the reward.
Garodnick responds to nothing. But wait til he is running for a second term in 2009 - then we'll hear from him. I will tell him to go screw himself.
If the brown water is a "city water supply" problem then every building and every apartment would be effected. There are people complaining about the water on the other side of my building, yet my water "seems" to be clear.
if this is the case then the "water" problem is local to Sty-town. Stytown, a pig with lipstick...
You have to love it.
For a good number of years we had a brown water problem in the bathroom (not kitchen) bad enough that brown droplets formed on the ceiling after a shower that had to be sponged away or they left a stain and mineral deposits formed in our humidifier (you need one here when the heat's blasting full time in winter or you'll dry up like a raisin). Anyway, that's finally over, we've had clear bathroom water for awhile now.
Last week, I filled the kitchen sink to wash vegetables and the water came out a fairly dark brown. I refilled the sink twice more and it was brown again, so I gave up. A half hour later it was suddenly clear again and we haven't had a brown water problem since. Weird. Now if we can just get plumbing to figure out why the kitchen water is never hot. It's now been over six months and they haven't figured that out yet...
The DEP was in the neighborhood today. They were opening all the fire hydrants and letting them run into the storm sewers. I asked if this was in response to the Brown Water problems, and the worker said something about "being switched over to new watermains". So I don't know if this will have any effect, but at least the DEP is aware of the problem.
I suggest buying one of these kits (PUR clean drinking water kit). The website shows how they work and where to buy one (http://www.csdw.org/csdw/index.html). The resulting water is clean and safe for drinking, and it would be interesting to see the amount of sediment collected and how it looks like. Perhaps even send it for analysis.