Newsday.com: A hazard to the environment

Subject: Fwd: [tb-cyberharbor]: A hazard to the environment + CIUS newsletter
Date: 10/26/2005 2:29:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: SBaileymcc
To: Reysmontj


A hazard to the environment
Experts estimate that billions of gallons of raw sewage were dumped into the city's waterways after storm

BY DANIEL HENDRICK
Daniel Hendrick is a freelance writer.

October 24, 2005


Along with downed wires and flooded basements, the torrential rains that fell earlier this month triggered another kind of problem that will take far more time and money to fix.

At least 7.5 billion gallons of raw sewage flowed into rivers, creeks and bays throughout New York City during the Oct. 7-15 storms, according to the environmental group Riverkeeper.

Brimming with waste from homes and businesses as well as chemicals washed down street drains, the sewage exacts a heavy toll on the environment, scientists and environmentalists say, and underscores a long-term problem that the city has struggled to confront.

"As long as New York City does not modify our current storm sewers, the impact always exists," said Paul Lu, an environmental science professor at Jamaica's York College. "Especially in the cumulative, if it doesn't rain for a couple of weeks ... everything goes into the pipe and washes down, and basically you have an open-water dumping system."



Flaws in the system

The culprit is the city's 6,000-mile-long sewer network, which captures sanitary waste and stormwater in the same pipes. This "combined" system was state-of-the-art in the 19th century, but has one major design flaw: It can easily be overwhelmed when it rains. An average of one out of every two storms that hit the city - or roughly once a week - puts more material into the sewers than the system can handle.

Rather than allow the city's 14 sewage treatment plants to be flooded, the excess is released into the environment through 460 valves called combined sewer overflows. Because the material they contain has not been treated, the overflows dump a toxic brew of anything and everything flushed down a toilet or left on the street. That includes human and animal feces, pesticides, antifreeze and petroleum products, tampon applicators, lead paint and industrial solvents. Some of these substances persist in the environment for years, while others lead to bacterial and algae growth that harms fish and other marine life.

All this pollution also violates water quality standards. The state Department of Environmental Conservation counted 18 city waterways on its most recent annual "impaired" list because of pathogens, nitrogen or trash discharged from the overflow valves.



In the works

And it's not just fish that pay the price, because anyone fishing, swimming or boating in New York City is affected. Groups such as the Long Island City Boathouse, which sponsors free paddling excursions and classes, canceled programs after the recent storms because of health concerns. "Cuts or open wounds, some people fall off the kayaks or people splash and get their hands wet and touch their mouths later. It's the internal contact we are worried about," said Erik Baard, the boathouse's chairman.

The city Department of Environmental Protection is working on the problem, said spokesman Charles Sturcken. By separating some storm and sanitary sewers, and reconfiguring pipes so they can hold more water, the system now captures 72 percent of the wet-weather flow, up from 18 percent in 1989. Last year, the department inked a consent order with state regulators to increase the capture to 75 percent. The department has also committed to a 10-year, $6.5-billion upgrade to its treatment plants, including the construction of massive stormwater holding tanks - although the tank nearest completion is already behind schedule.

But those improvements will only keep pace with the city's growing population and development, and won't reduce overflow valve pollution, said Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Brad Sewell. The city needs to look at a variety of solutions, he said, including installing permeable pavement and temporary stormwater retention tanks on new buildings.

Sturcken acknowledged this approach "may be right," but was noncommittal.

"With the amount of money we are spending and the amount of capture, we have to look at the projected demand," Sturcken added. "But there is a delicate balance to it. We have to balance that against the economy of the five boroughs, the rest of the city and the amount of money we can use from ratepayers."

Daniel Hendrick is a freelance writer.

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really, really very good related issue:

The latest newsletter from the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems (CIUS) is now
available online at http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/cius/newsletters/CIUS-News14.pdf.

Contents of this issue include:

- NYC's new high-performance guidelines for streets and other public
infrastructure

- Energy initiatives across CUNY

- CUNY's participants in NYMTC's Sept. 11th Memorial Program for Regional
Transportation Planning

- New CIUS Senior Fellow and Intern

- "Road to Energy Independence" conference

- Other upcoming classes and events

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by extension from the preceding entry:

URBAN PLANNING PRESS ADVISORY
October 25, 2005

Ten Common Sense Rules For TOD

Los Angeles, CA -- What are the necessary ingredients for
successful Transit Oriented Development (TOD)? Bruce
Liedstrand, Planner for Liedstrand Associates, lists the ten
fundamental, common-sense elements of TOD.

Ten Common Sense Rules For TOD
http://www.planetizen.com/node/17471

Bruce Liedstrand is a planner for Liedstrand Associates.

Contact:
Chris Steins, Editor
Planetizen: The Urban Planning and Development Network
Email steins@planetizen.com, 323-966-4540

Planetizen (plan-NET'-a-zen) is a one-stop source for urban
planning news, commentary, press releases, jobs and events.
http://www.planetizen.com/

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lastly, not infrastructure, but still transportation-related - sort of - with
recyclables:

Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria
SW corner 42nd St & 5th Ave, opp Grand Central Terminal
October 27, 2005-January 22, 2006


Brooklyn-based Rob Fischer draws deeply on the vernacular forms and architecture
of his native Minnesota in his sculptural installations, painted photographs and
paintings. His most ambitious to date, Fischer's project addresses the tension
between transience and memory and the specifics of site. His hybrid sculptures
are amalgamations of parts (transport vehicles, including boats, airplane parts,
flatbed trucks, and dumpsters) that have seemingly discordant functions. Made of
industrial materials like steel and glass, the sculptures remain at once
utilitarian and intensely personal, elucidating a deeply human and personal
relationship to space, place, and origin. They explore both our desire to
escape*our eternal wanderlust and need for mobility*and our contradictory
impulse to root ourselves to an exact place.

For more information, please call (212) 570-3676 or visit www.whitney.org