In 2011, when over 200 million gallons of raw sewage flowed into the Hudson River due to a fire and explosion at Harlem’s North River Wastewater Treatment plant, the authorities in New York got a real setback and decided to make a significant investment for cleaning the city waterways and also from preventing the untreated sewage from flowing into the waterways. Under an official agreement with the Department of Environmental Conservation, New York a total of $3.8 billion will be spent over the next 18 years to bring a viable respite to the city.
As part of the agreement various green systems like tree pits, green roofs, and porous pavements parking lots will be installed so that water can be prevented from run off’s . Also, the new technology that would be adopted states that the sewer system will be designed to have plants and soil that will act like a sponge and suck up water before it goes to the sewage. The main concern is to stop water wherever it falls.
In the past, wastewater treatment plants have been expelling huge amounts of sewage into the city. Surprisingly, the North River alone expels 800 million gallons of untreated runoff each year and on the whole approximately 30 billion gallons of untreated sewage makes way into the city waterways.
With this about 1.5 billion gallons of sewer can be prevented from overflowing each year and remain so till 2030. This green investment will save New York from the savage effects of uncontrolled sewage and also save the waterways from the brute of city dump.
Via: Dnainfo
