DEC Advances Next Phase of Landmark Effort to Expand Water Quality Protections in New York City Waters with Proposed Newtown Creek Reclassification

Proposal Builds on State’s Multi-Year Initiative to Achieve More Uses in Marine Waters 

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Amanda Lefton today announced the next milestone of an unprecedented and ongoing collaboration to elevate water quality and ecological health in New York City’s saline (or marine) waters, ensuring future generations will inherit cleaner, safer waterways. This week, DEC submitted a proposal to upgrade waterbody classification regulations that strengthen water pollution and public health protections in Newtown Creek.

“This proposed reclassification is a significant positive announcement in a series of recent State efforts to protect water quality in and around New York City,” New York State DEC Commissioner Lefton said. “Thanks to Governor Hochul’s record investments in clean water, a waterway like Newtown Creek, previously known more for pollution than recreation, will eventually be home to boaters excited to get out on the water.” 

"The NYC Department of Environmental Protection is working hard to improve water quality in the New York Harbor and the results are showing, whether it’s upgraded classifications for water bodies such as Newtown Creek and the Harlem River, or the resurgence of wildlife such as whales and dolphins and even beavers,” New York City DEP Commissioner Lisa F. Garcia said.  “With renewed commitment from the Mamdani Administration, we look forward to continuing the collaboration with DEC to make our local waters cleaner and safer for all New Yorkers."

The proposal will be available for public comment in the State Register and on DEC’s website on September 16, 2026, and marks the next milestone that builds upon decades of progress towards cleaner waterways in and around New York City (NYC). Opportunities for recreation in saline waters have been historically limited due to pollution from sewage via combined sewer overflows (CSO), a problem common to most large cities in the Northeast. 

Since 1974, DEC has worked closely with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to limit CSOs and greatly improve water quality. This includes more than $5 billion already spent by DEP on CSO capture and green infrastructure projects, and an additional $5.9 billion in DEP’s current 10-year capital plan. The CSO storage tunnel planned for Newtown Creek will capture an estimated 867 million gallons per year of CSO – a 72% reduction - at a cost to DEP of $3.4 billion to complete.

The proposed reclassification of Newtown Creek from Class SD to Class I adds protections for secondary contact recreation (boating), based on the latest United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommendations, and enhances protections for aquatic life propagation. The reclassification reflects the findings of extensive technical evaluations, including a Use Attainability Analysis (UAA) prepared by DEP in consultation with DEC and consistent with EPA guidance. This action considers current waterbody uses, ongoing environmental improvements, and the unique characteristics of this urbanized waterway with legacy pollution to establish appropriate water quality goals and guide future restoration efforts. 

Newtown Creek is a waterway largely influenced by a long history of industrial activities and maritime operations, with legacy pollution related to those activities compounding the influence of CSOs. The proposed reclassification focuses on the waterbody’s brighter, cleaner future, adding protections for recreation and aquatic life. The new protections for secondary contact recreation (boating) considered public input and results of a 2022 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) showing that secondary contact recreation (boating) was the prevailing public use of the waterbody.  

The proposal would also add additional, more stringent water quality requirements to protect aquatic life communities within the creek. The proposed classification would establish the strongest protections for Newtown Creek to date and allow DEC to further reduce pollutant inputs, and safeguard progress already made toward improving water quality in the creek. DEC will continue to reevaluate the creek to analyze the improvements achieved by ongoing projects. This announcement demonstrates DEC’s commitment to setting protective goals for New York’s waters and our efforts to revise such goals to make meaningful improvements into the future. 

Since launching the saline waters reclassification effort in July 2022, DEC initiated a series of regulatory updates that amend key water quality standards and classifications in State environmental regulations. These landmark regulatory changes comprise the most significant water quality upgrades in New York’s saline waters in decades and together move the State’s saline waters towards the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) objective of waterways that support recreation and aquatic life.  

• Step one was the ANPRM, released July 27, 2022, that solicited data from the public on how they used NYS’s saline waters for fishing and recreational purposes. The ANPRM informed DEC of waters where recreational activities were being practiced and identified where water quality standards (WQS) and/or classifications may need to be upgraded to match those practiced uses. This novel and collaborative public outreach initiative informed waterbody-specific, data-driven decisions that focus on aligning waters with practiced uses and continued progress towards CWA goals.  
• Step two, adopted October 2023, added new water quality standards based on the best available science and EPA criteria recommendations to protect the primary contact recreation (swimming) and secondary contact recreation (boating) best uses identified by the public during the ANPRM. 
• Step three and beyond, including this proposed rulemaking, aims to reclassify waterbodies based on data received during the ANPRM and other data available to DEC. Reclassification aligns water quality protection goals to the best uses, and creates clear targets for water quality improvement projects. 
• DEC originally identified 54 waterbody segments with classifications that did not align with current uses and/or CWA goals; a rule adopted in October 2025 reclassified 30 of those segments.  
• Building on this momentum, the proposed rule announced today will address the one Newtown Creek segment and includes a comprehensive UAA as supporting documentation for the reclassification, following guidance from USEPA.  
• The subsequent rulemakings will address the remaining 23 segments and include UAAs, water quality standard variances, or other tools for waters that do not satisfy CWA goals. This work will help identify the highest attainable uses for waters while ensuring that future classifications are grounded in sound science and reflect both environmental conditions and ongoing restoration efforts.  

The full text of the proposed regulatory amendments and supporting documentation will be available on DEC’s website September 16 and can be requested by mail: NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Albany NY 12233-3500, ATTN: Gwendolyn Wynkoop, by calling (518) 402-8194, or via e-mail at [email protected]. Details on the November 16 and November 19 public hearings will also be available on DEC’s website upon the start of the public comment period.  

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