NYC plans to reshape underused waterfront
Source: Agencies |
March 16, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
NEW York City's first waterfront plan in two decades envisions a metropolis where residents flock to the waterways for recreation.
And the city will spend a sizable portion of its more than US$3.2 billion in funds on a key ingredient for that vision: getting human waste out of New York Harbor.
The plan, formally announced on Monday at Brooklyn Bridge Park by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, seeks to transform the city's waters into blue highways for recreation, transportation and commerce - undoing decades of planning that often placed roadways and concrete between residents and their shoreline. It would add 20 hectares of new parks, expand dozens more and dredge waterways to make room for giant container ships.
But most of the money set aside to pay for the first three years of the plan will be spent more or less behind the scenes - on efforts to improve the area's water quality, in part by reducing the sewage overflow that drives so many boaters and swimmers away from the shores in the days following rain. The US$2.57 billion over three years is to be funded with city water utility payments.
Like many older cities with sewage systems that were first built before waste treatment became a consideration, New York City's street gutters and its toilets all empty into the same warren of pipes. When the city is hit by heavy rains, the flood of water through the city's street grates can overwhelm the system, and about 60 times a year, this pushes raw sewage out of one or more pipes scattered around the city's shoreline.
Much of the money for the waterfront plan will be spent increasing the capacity of the system during rainfall - through renovations to wastewater treatment plants and city pipes, and by installing permeable pavement and other landscaping that will allow water to be absorbed into the ground, rather than flowing into the city's gutters.
The changes are part of a 20-year plan issued last year by the city, which aims to reduce the sewage outflow by 40 percent over that time. Over the past three decades, the city has reduced the amount of human waste making up the outflow that makes its way into the harbor, from 30 percent to about 12 percent.
Those and other improvements in water quality have been enough to get some New Yorkers back in the waters that for a century and more have gained a reputation as notoriously filthy.
Morty Berger, founder of NYC Swim, says he's seen his group grow from nine people to upward of 2,500 over the last two decades. As the water got cleaner, more New Yorkers began signing on for the swims the group sponsors around the Statue of Liberty and at other spots in New York Harbor.
"It's clearly an acceptance that water quality has improved," he said.
It is a turnaround for this city, where the waterfront for much of its history has been viewed more as dumping ground than destination.
The plan also calls for boosting the city's maritime industry, in part by dredging some areas to make way for giant container ships.
And the city will spend a sizable portion of its more than US$3.2 billion in funds on a key ingredient for that vision: getting human waste out of New York Harbor.
The plan, formally announced on Monday at Brooklyn Bridge Park by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, seeks to transform the city's waters into blue highways for recreation, transportation and commerce - undoing decades of planning that often placed roadways and concrete between residents and their shoreline. It would add 20 hectares of new parks, expand dozens more and dredge waterways to make room for giant container ships.
But most of the money set aside to pay for the first three years of the plan will be spent more or less behind the scenes - on efforts to improve the area's water quality, in part by reducing the sewage overflow that drives so many boaters and swimmers away from the shores in the days following rain. The US$2.57 billion over three years is to be funded with city water utility payments.
Like many older cities with sewage systems that were first built before waste treatment became a consideration, New York City's street gutters and its toilets all empty into the same warren of pipes. When the city is hit by heavy rains, the flood of water through the city's street grates can overwhelm the system, and about 60 times a year, this pushes raw sewage out of one or more pipes scattered around the city's shoreline.
Much of the money for the waterfront plan will be spent increasing the capacity of the system during rainfall - through renovations to wastewater treatment plants and city pipes, and by installing permeable pavement and other landscaping that will allow water to be absorbed into the ground, rather than flowing into the city's gutters.
The changes are part of a 20-year plan issued last year by the city, which aims to reduce the sewage outflow by 40 percent over that time. Over the past three decades, the city has reduced the amount of human waste making up the outflow that makes its way into the harbor, from 30 percent to about 12 percent.
Those and other improvements in water quality have been enough to get some New Yorkers back in the waters that for a century and more have gained a reputation as notoriously filthy.
Morty Berger, founder of NYC Swim, says he's seen his group grow from nine people to upward of 2,500 over the last two decades. As the water got cleaner, more New Yorkers began signing on for the swims the group sponsors around the Statue of Liberty and at other spots in New York Harbor.
"It's clearly an acceptance that water quality has improved," he said.
It is a turnaround for this city, where the waterfront for much of its history has been viewed more as dumping ground than destination.
The plan also calls for boosting the city's maritime industry, in part by dredging some areas to make way for giant container ships.
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