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Today's interview is with Anna Ponting, Chief of Staff, NYC Environmental Protection.
What is NYC DEP?
What is NYC Environmental Protection, and can you share more about your mission?
Anna Ponting - DEP is New York City’s water and wastewater utility. Our mission is to deliver world-class drinking water, treat and recover resources from wastewater and build infrastructure that can stand up to the climate threats of today and tomorrow. Our scale is huge: we deliver more than 1 billion gallons of drinking water to more than 10 million New Yorkers per day, distribute and then collect it through 15,000 miles of water mains and sewers, and treat 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater per day. We also lead New York City’s coastal resilience efforts and enforce regulations related to air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution. This means that we operate core services at the intersection of natural systems and urban life.
Resilience Strategies
With climate change intensifying, what innovative strategies is the DEP implementing to enhance the city's resilience against increased rainfall and rising sea levels?
Anna Ponting - We're acting on every front to enhance our stormwater resilience. We’re deploying green infrastructure and building bluebelts to better manage extreme rain events, upgrading drainage systems at chronic flooding hotspots, and requiring that many new developments retain stormwater on-site. This comprehensive approach is transforming how water moves through our city and how our neighborhoods absorb the intense storms we’ve seen in recent years.
Air Quality
Beyond water management, the DEP also focuses on reducing air and noise pollution. Can you share some recent initiatives aimed at improving air quality in the city?
Anna Ponting - We’re currently working on a new way of addressing air pollution through what is called an “indirect source rule,” which targets truck pollution from large-scale freight and logistics operations. Traditionally, we’ve focused on pollution at the point of discharge – think of a construction site creating lots of dust, or an industrial facility generating smoke. Today, because of the popularity of online ordering and deliveries, the communities in NYC that are home to a large concentration of warehouses are seeing air quality issues because of the amount of truck traffic originating from these facilities. We’re working with the City Council on legislation to make this type of regulation work for New York City, because cleaner air means better health outcomes, especially for communities historically overburdened by pollution.
Partnerships
How does the DEP plan to foster public-private partnerships to finance large-scale shoreline protection projects effectively?
Anna Ponting - DEP has decades of experience tapping capital markets to finance multi-billion-dollar infrastructure – in fact we have more than $30 billion in outstanding bonds, and issue them on a regular basis. This isn’t a public private partnership in the traditional sense, but I mention it to remind us of the deep connection between private investors and public works projects in this country. We now need to apply that expertise to resilience. The scale of investment needed to build large scale shoreline protection projects citywide is on the order of $50 billion – a massive sum.
This means we may need to pursue new models, including targeted public-private partnerships. In areas of the city where real estate values can support it, there may be opportunities to structure value-capture mechanisms or other PPP models that leverage private investment in exchange for co-benefits like flood protection. However, those models alone won’t be sufficient. Large portions of the city’s shoreline, particularly in lower-income or less dense areas, will require substantial public investment to ensure citywide resilience and equitable protection. We’re is committed to exploring all financing avenues while ensuring that vulnerable areas across the city get the protection they need.
Success Indicators
What metrics or indicators will the DEP use to evaluate the effectiveness of funded shoreline protection projects over time?
Anna Ponting - At their most fundamental, these projects must demonstrate both physical resilience and economic value over decades. We can measure success by the losses these projects avoid. It can be hard to wrap your mind around, but we must be able to quantify what the damage – lives, property, and economic value – would have been if a particular coastal resilience project had not been built. But this could take a long time to see, depending on when the next big storm occurs. We should also measure success by whether property insurance remains accessible and affordable in vulnerable areas. The insurance market has the potential to change much more quickly and be a leading indicator.
DEP Expertise
With decades of experience in environmental management, how does the DEP's historical knowledge and expertise uniquely position it to lead climate adaptation efforts compared to a newly established body?
Anna Ponting - DEP’s deep institutional knowledge and technical expertise uniquely position it to lead New York City’s climate adaptation efforts. For generations—dating back to the mid-1800s when the first reservoirs and aqueducts were constructed—DEP has built, operated, and maintained massive infrastructure across both the city and its upstate watershed. Today, we are staffed with engineers, planners, and field operations crews who understand how to manage complex systems 24/7. This long-standing experience translates into the capacity, technical sophistication, and long-term accountability required to deliver climate infrastructure at scale—qualities that a newly established body would take decades to build.
Protecting New Yorkers
With the recent completion of significant projects like the East Side Coastal Resiliency initiative, how does the DEP demonstrate that climate adaptation is not a distant concept but a present-day reality actively protecting New Yorkers?
Anna Ponting - Anyone who walks along the coast in Lower Manhattan can see active construction on several coastal resilience projects. The walls are going up, the parks are opening, and you can see climate adaptation taking shape. It’s not only functional, but beautiful and built to last.We hope to not see coastal storms like Superstorm Sandy anytime soon, but as these projects are delivered, we will be far better protected.
Into The Future
Looking ahead to 2030 and beyond, what critical challenges will the adaptation sector need to address?
Anna Ponting - Looking ahead to 2030 and beyond, the adaptation sector must make the value proposition of resilience crystal clear: upfront investments save lives and reduce long-term costs. A key challenge is converting long-term risk reduction into near-term returns that build public confidence and attract investor interest. Public-private partnerships—or even fully privatized services—may play a role in strong markets, but their viability depends on investment horizons and risk tolerance. We must assess when the private sector is best positioned to assume the risks and rewards of adaptation, and when public or social actors are better suited to lead because they are committed to a region indefinitely. Equally important is designing public financing approaches that fund resilience without forcing competition with essential services like libraries, parks, and social programs.
