The City of New York and its Department of Environmental Protection are taking a green infrastructure approach to reducing pollution to the city’s waterfront areas. Although local water quality has improved a great deal in recent decades, combined serwer overflows (CSOs) remain an issue.
Rather than simply do what most cities do – build tanks or deep tunnels to store wastewater until storms end – New York is also deploying a Green Infrastructure Plan that uses innovations like plantings, pervious pavement and streets, green and blue roofs and even rain barrels to trap stoprmwater before it gets to the storm/sanitary sewer systems.
The city’s green infrastructure plan aims to cut CSOs by 40 percent by 2030, and for about $1.5 billion dollars less than for traditional methods. Find out more at http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/stormwater/nyc_green_infrastructure_plan.shtml