Funny enough, this would be a violation of the clean water act. Letting the snow melt naturally and flow through the storm drains into the hudson would not be a violation however. But this melted snow must be treated at a wastewater plant.

[–] BanMeFromPosting@hexbear.net 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I figure snow that gets pushed around and salted and all sorts of stuff is probably much worse to let run into freshwater than regular snow, so that does make sense.

[–] sewer_rat_420@hexbear.net 8 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah it's basically illegal to intentionally dump anything, even drinking water, into a storm drain or river.

When water distribution operators need to flush out pipes or hydrants, the water must pass through a dechlorinating device because dumping any chlorine residual intentionally would be illegal. However, you as a private citizen using chlorinated water on your lawn that runs into a storm drain isn't illegal.

[–] ZWQbpkzl@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

NYC storm drains don't go into the waste water plant?

[–] sewer_rat_420@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

Actually, I looked it up and most of NYC has a combined system where storm drains do go to the sewage plant. This is common for older cities, most cities have them separated. So the melted snow would indeed get treated by the sewage plant however it melts, but dumping it into the river would probably be illegal