Image Credit: Department of Environmental Protection

This Administration has retained over $1 billion in the water system to keep rates affordable while ensuring funding for drinking water and wastewater projects. On May 10, 2021, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection proposed a 2.76 percent increase to the water rate in 2022 to the City’s Water Board. Funding has helped to create critical programs while keeping rates low for property owners and businesses. New York City water rates are approximately 20 percent below the average for the 30 largest cities in the United States.

Should the 2.76 percent water increase be adopted, a typical single-family owner could see an increase of around $2.22 per month for water and sewer bills. Typical multi-family unit, with metered billing, could see an increase of around $1.65 per month for water and sewer bills.

The Department of Environmental Protection is committed to maintaining rates and billing policies that keep costs at a reasonable level for customers that face affordability challenges. New expected billing policies for 2022 include: an $8 million expansion to the Home Water Assistance Program to provide a bill credit of $145 to up to 96,000 low income households; a $2 million expansion to the Multifamily Water Assistance Program to provide a $250 bill credit per affordable residential units located in eligible multifamily properties to up to 48,000 units; freezing the minimum charge, meaning that customers who use less than 902 gallons per day will not be billed the minimum water charge of $1.27 per day; and Mayor de Blasio is not requesting a rental payment from the water system for Fiscal Year 2022.

The proposed rate is subject to review and approval by the City’s Water Board. The Water Board is scheduled to have two public hearings via conference year for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2022 water proposal. The public is welcome to submit written testimony or comments to the Board by email to nycwaterboard@dep.nyc.gov or by mail to NYC Water Board, 59-17 Junction Blvd., 8th Floor, Flushing, NY 11373. The public hearings can be found here:

– Tuesday, June 1 at 12pm: 347-921-5612, access code 107181687#

– Wednesday, June 2 at 6pm: 347-921-5612, access code 875205402#

After the hearings, the Water Board will meet again later in June to consider and adopt rates. New rates would be effective on July 1, 2021.

Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Vincent Sapienza stated, “Thanks in large part to Mayor de Blasio’s commitment to return the rental payment to the water system, in addition to effective management of DEP’s operations and the system’s balance sheet, we are able to fully fund the City’s critical drinking water and wastewater systems while keeping the cost of water in New York City below the national average. In addition, we are extending savings to as many as 96,000 low-income, senior, and disabled customers, as well as providing bill credits to keep up to 48,000 multi-family housing units affordable.”

By: Patrick McNeill (Patrick is the CityLaw intern and a New York Law School student, Class of 2022.)