(a) Purpose. The purpose of these rules is to protect Department and Water Board water tunnels and shafts in the five boroughs of New York City from potential damage due to drilling or excavation.
(b) Applicability.
(1) These rules apply to any proposed drilling or excavation, for any purpose, to a depth greater than fifty (50) feet below ground surface in the borough of the Bronx or on or north of 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, or greater than 100 feet in the borough of Brooklyn, Queens or Staten Island or south of 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, in a corridor within the City of New York or to any depth within 200 feet horizontal distance of a water tunnel shaft.
(2) These rules do not apply to any drilling or excavation conducted by, or on behalf of, the Department for water supply or wastewater projects.
(3) These rules do not apply to drilling and excavation projects permitted by the New York City Department of Buildings prior to the effective date of these rules.
(Added City Record 7/22/2019, eff. 8/21/2019)
For the purposes of these rules, the following definitions apply:
Application. "Application" means the Department Drilling and Excavation Permit Application, including all information and documentation required by the Commissioner and these rules.
Azimuth. "Azimuth" means an angle used to define the apparent position of an object, relative to a specific observation point.
Blowout preventer. "Blowout preventer" means a safety device used to prevent the uncontrolled flow of liquids and gases during well drilling operations.
Borehole. "Borehole" means a narrow shaft bored in the ground as part of a geotechnical investigation.
Commissioner. "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Environmental Protection or his or her designee.
Corridor. "Corridor" means a block that has any part of its boundary falling within five hundred (500) feet horizontal distance from the centerline of any water tunnel or shaft as measured at or near the surface.
Crown. "Crown" means the topmost point of a water tunnel.
Datum Plane. "Datum Plane" means the horizontal plane from which heights and depths are calculated.
Department. "Department" means the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and its authorized agents.
Deviation. "Deviation" means a borehole's departure from a true vertical line, measured in degrees.
Deviation survey. "Deviation survey" means an investigative procedure conducted using generally accepted engineering principles and practices to establish the position of a tip of a borehole or well, with respect to a true vertical line, and the orientation of such tip with respect to north direction.
Directional drilling. "Directional drilling" means a method used to control the location and the direction of the drill bit.
Drill or Drilling. "Drill" or "Drilling" means using shaft-like equipment with a drill bit to bore a hole to below ground surface.
Elevation. "Elevation" means the height above or below a specific datum plane.
Excavate or Excavation. "Excavate" or "Excavation" means any man-made cut, cavity, trench, or depression in an earth surface formed by earth removal.
Geothermal well. "Geothermal well" means a well which taps into the natural geothermal energy found beneath the Earth's crust in order to harness the heat energy produced by the earth underground.
Gyroscopic probe. "Gyroscopic probe" means a device used for measuring or maintaining position or orientation.
Invert. "Invert" means the lowest inside surface or floor of a water tunnel.
No Drilling/Excavation Zone. "No Drilling/Excavation Zone" means a boundary area defined as two hundred feet (200') on either side of the centerline of the water tunnel and vertical distances of one hundred fifty feet (150') above the crown of the water tunnel and one hundred fifty feet (150') below the invert of the water tunnel; or, except as otherwise indicated, two hundred feet (200') feet on either side of the centerline of the water tunnel shaft.
Owner. "Owner" means any person who holds legal title to a property or any person who holds a leasehold of at least twenty (20) years over a property, where the property is a proposed drilling or excavation site.
Permit. "Permit" means a written document issued by the Department granting an owner approval, if owner meets required conditions, to drill and/or excavate on a property in close proximity to a water tunnel or shaft.
Permittee. "Permittee" means an owner to whom the Department has issued a permit.
Person. "Person" means an individual, firm, partnership, company, corporation, association, society, institution, organization, governmental agency, administration, department, or other group of individuals or legal entity, or an officer or employee thereof.
Site plan. "Site plan" means a plan of the area of a proposed drilling or excavation operation.
Stratigraphic well. "Stratigraphic well" means a well drilled for stratigraphic information, i.e., information about rock strata, especially the distribution, deposition, and age of sedimentary rocks.
Verticality probe. "Verticality probe" means a device used to measure inclination and to provide accurate information on the precise location of underground features intersected by a borehole.
Water Board. "Water Board" means the New York City Water Board.
Water Tunnel. "Water Tunnel" means any tunnel or covered aqueduct, including a water tunnel shaft, used to convey the supply of drinking water, that is owned, leased or operated by the City of New York, the Water Board, or the Department and located in the five boroughs of New York City.
Water tunnel shaft or shaft. "Water tunnel shaft or shaft" means a shaft of a water tunnel consisting of a vertical pathway that conveys water from an underground tunnel to a chamber at the surface. A shaft is constructed with pipes connected to a concrete lined circular opening in bedrock.
Water tunnel shaft structure or shaft structure. "Water tunnel shaft structure or shaft structure" means the shaft superstructure and substructure including any building, building foundation, or below grade chamber associated with a shaft facility.
(Added City Record 7/22/2019, eff. 8/21/2019)
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