Here's where they want you to hold onto your poop

From QNS:

The next time it rains, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) wants Queens residents to wait until it stops before doing the dishes, taking a shower or flushing a toilet.

The appropriately titled “Wait…” pilot program is expanding throughout western Queens, the DEP announced on Monday. Participating homeowners and tenants are sent text messages alerting them that the Newtown Creek and Bowery Bay Wastewater Treatment plants are near capacity — and that they should minimize their water use in order to prevent sewer overflows from spilling into already polluted waterways such as the Newtown Creek and Flushing Creek.

The pilot program area of Queens covers all neighborhoods north of the Jackie Robinson Parkway and west of the Van Wyck Expressway, as well as portions of Kew Gardens Hills and Briarwood.

According to advocates, the Wait Program is geared at educating the public about where their dirty water winds up after going down the drain. Wastewater produced whenever someone washes clothes or dishes, or even flushes a toilet, travels into the city’s vast underground sewer system, destined for one of many sewage treatment plants for cleanup and processing.

But in a heavy rain event, not all of the storm runoff and wastewater winds up in the sewage treatment plants. When the plants hit capacity, excess wastewater is expelled through combined sewer overflows into waterways across the city. About 90 percent of the overflow is comprised of storm runoff, and the rest is household wastewater containing detergents, chemicals and raw sewage.

Hey, how about limiting the building in these boroughs until the city gets a handle on how much waste they produce?

Glassy, not classy

From CBS New York:

Imagine looking out of your window one morning and seeing your neighbors taking a shower.

That’s exactly what could happen in Brooklyn after one couple built their bath in a way that leaves little to the imagination.

Call it a shower with a view, CBS 2’s Steve Langford reported Friday.

Beyond the exposed brick walls of the beautiful Cobble Hill homes, one newly renovated townhouse features a very exposed glass shower.

The view from the back of the townhouse shows a huge glass enclosed shower area overlooking the backyard, the apparent absence of curtains of great interest to neighbors who have a full frontal view of this home improvement. Langford tried to reach the owners by phone on Friday, but one quickly hung up.

Council passes new potty law

From Gotham Gazette:

Need a plumber? Call the City Council.

The City Council plugged some leaks Wednesday by approving a package of legislation aimed at conserving the city's water supply.

The bills will require new commercial buildings to have water fountains with spouts that can accommodate a 10-inch water bottle, mandate property owners install alarms to detect leaks in roof water tanks and, for the first time, allow dual-flush toilets.

All of them, said Council Speaker Christine Quinn, could prevent billions of gallons of water from being wasted every year.

The council's Republican delegation saw the proposal as overregulation at its best.

"Once again," said Republican Councilmember Daniel Halloran, "we are in the business of regulating crap."

Several Republican members also voted against a bill to require new construction to install plumbing fixtures -- like showerheads, urinals and sink faucets -- that would use less water. The bill (Intro 271-a) also allows buildings to install dual-flush toilets, which have two separate water pressure levels, one for solid waste and one for liquid. Buildings are fined if they have two-flush toilets now, said Quinn.

Critics of the bill said it would force homeowners doing simple bathroom renovations to buy -- and pay for -- new fixtures.

"It seems with every turn, with every aspect of building, every aspect of breathing, and now in one of those glorious moments in one little room in your home, government is coming and knocking on the door and saying, 'We'd like to check out the throne,'" said Council Minority Leader James Oddo. "This has nothing to do with conservation."