Problem Description

Building Blocks

• Protect the city’s water supply and maintain the reliability of the water supply system
• Install or repair 500 water fountains and water bottle refilling stations
• Expand green infrastructure and smart design for stormwater management in neighborhoods across the city
• Reduce pollution from stormwater runoff

Story

New York City has approximately 7,000 miles of water mains and over 7,500 miles of sewer mains that incur substantial maintenance, replacement, and management costs. Fourteen large municipal WWTPs treat an average of 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater every day.

To safeguard this invaluable natural resource and more efficiently deliver critical water services, the City has adopted a holistic approach to water management. This is anchored in an understanding of local water cycles and an appreciation for the contributions of smaller-scale, decentralized projects aimed at optimizing the performance of existing large-scale systems. For example, the City has spent approximately $1.7 billion since the 1990s in watershed protection. These investments have helped protect our natural resources and ensure high-quality affordable drinking water, while also avoiding the need for an estimated $10 billion new filtration plant.

Resources

• New York's Resilience Strategy

Organisations Involved

• New York City, New York, USA

Solution Stage

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Stages of Innovation

Although every real innovation is a complex story of loops and jumps, there are various stages that most innovations pass through. This framework is useful for understanding how to put ideas to work, and focusing on the different methods, and different mindset, needed at each stage.