Urban Environmental

#Globalwarming or #climatechange or whatever its called today will be harder and far worse than most expect. This is not meant to be another extreme prediction, but a micro-scale look at impacts due to these changes in our environment. Most systems in nature are seeking some sort of homeostasis or equilibrium. This could be a river cutting its banks on either side in an effort to reach equilibrium or plants speeding up photosynthesis because of larger sources of carbon in atmosphere or at the soil-atmosphere interface. Even humans have these feedback loops to reach an equilibrium when your body temperature lowers, your body begins to experience cutis anserine or goose bumps or begin to shiver to raise the temperature of your body. The problem comes when the system is so perturbed that it cannot attain that prior equilibrium. We have been at relative stabilized point, some might say equilibrium in terms of temperature, climate and weather. This is the critical point we are at with our climate is outpacing natural processes maintaining equilibrium..

While many discount the smaller individual impacts of climate change to shifting weather patterns or even sea level change, an often highly publicized impact of climate change. People perceive warmer temperatures that are observed at more northern or southern latitudes, drought, or periods of regional water stress as not connected to personnel well being. The cascading effect or connected feedback loops will impact far more than weather patterns changing or dreaded sea level rise; they change the very existence of our every day. Some of these changes will be easier for more wealthy countries to deal with by utilizing engineering controls like building sea walls or gate systems to manage tides and elevated mean sea level increases. This type of engineered problem solving wealthy countries can handle in an emergency. Will Wall Street in New York City ever be under water? That answer is a resounding no. Wall Street will never be under water if big capital has anything to say about it, but this one node of impact will be a disaster for counties like Bangladesh or Guyana and others whereby millions will be displaced. Bangladesh has an average land elevation of approximately 7.50 meters above mean sea level and as a maritime country almost 20% of its land surface is covered and navigable by mechanized boats during monsoon seasons. A sure tragedy causing mass migration and a host of other tangential problems that will impact regional and global populations. What if the sea walls in Georgetown in Guyana are overtopped? What if West African shorelines are changed from what they are now? What if Europe's boundaries in Italy, Finland, Amsterdam are changed making Europe essentially smaller? What if New Orleans disappears? The What IF questions are exponentially limitless when you talk about disturbing natural processes and natural systems.

We don't think about natural systems, we think about our daily lives. these systems are sometimes to complicated for scientists to think about with complete confidence. It is a basic instinct to deny anything horrible will happen. Time Magazine asked this question in 2013, while almost the entire scientific community is in agreement, only 69% of the US population believe it is occurring. The thing is most of the 69% may answer yes in a survey, but follow-up lifestyle questions would surely indicate not many people are doing anything about it in terms of change. Robert Gifford, a professor of psychology and environmental studies at the University of Victoria in Canada, also picks up on the point about our brains’ difficulty in grasping climate change as a threat. Gifford refers to this and other psychological barriers to mitigating climate change as “dragons of inaction.” Since authoring a paper on the subject in 2011 in which he outlined seven main barriers, or dragons, he has found many more. “We’re up to around 30,” he notes. “Now it’s time to think about how we can slay these dragons.” Gifford lists factors such as limited cognition or ignorance of the problem, ideologies or worldviews that may prevent action, social comparisons with other people and perceived inequity (the “Why should we change if X corporation or Y country won’t?”) and the perceived risks of changing our behavior.

The 2 degree or more in temperature increase leads to more than rising sea levels. That problem is solvable! The extra carbon whether it be natural or anthropogenic will increase ocean warming with a feedback loop to the atmosphere magnifying the atmospheric heating. This will not be easy for humans to solve in any quick engineering feat. It will lead to ocean acidification which will cause large sections of the food web to collapse, which lead other parts of the food web to collapse. If plankton or krill populations collapse a host of species in the food web could be threatened with extinction. Scientists now believe fish populations worldwide are already in collapse because of overfishing and humans not effectively protecting sacred habitats. Imagine what 4, 6 oz dinner fillets will cost when the your favorite species is in collapse, if you can get it, atleast 4 times the current price of $75.00. That is $300.00 for 4 servings of Pacific Northwest Salmon, if you can get it. Most populations of Salmon are on the decline as reported by the EPA. Tables 1 & 2 show estimated historic (late 1800s) and current (late 1900s) run sizes of wild salmon in western North America (modified from Gresh et al., 2000) & EPA (2005).      

 Table 1: Peak Salmon Cannery Packs in Major Production Areas South of the Fraser River.

Pacific Northwest Rivers

Peak Year

Cases

Kg of Salmon (Millions)

Sacramento River

1882

200,000

4.3

Columbia River

1895

634,696

13.7

Fraser River

1901

998,913

21.5

Willapa Harbor

1902

39,492

0.81

Grays Harbor

1911

75,941

1.62

Coastal Oregon Rivers

1911

138,146

2.3

Klamath River

1912

18,000

0.39

Puget Sound

1913

2,583,463

558

Coastal Washington Rivers

1915

31,735

0.67

        Table 2: Historic & Current Change in Salmon Runs.

Area

Historic Run Size

Current Run Size

Percentage % of Historic Run Size

Alaska

150-200

115-259

106.7

British Columbia (Non-Columbia River)

44-93

24.8

36.2

Puget Sound

13-27

1.6

  Washington Coast

2-4

0.07

8

Columbia Basin

11-15

0.11-0.33

1.8

Washington Coast

2-4

0.10-0.32

1.7

California

5-6

0.28

5.1

California, Washington, Oregon, & Idaho

33-58

2.16-2.60

5.2

    The absolute number of fish in most coastal wild salmon runs appears to be a small fraction of that a couple of centuries ago. Now think about the 40,000 species of fish on the planet, many will struggle like Salmon above will. If weather patterns change and rainfall is curtailed and snowpack doesn't accumulate, these river beds will go dry and Salmon prices will skyrocket to over $600.00 for 4, 6 oz filets or more, if it wild species doesn't go extinct under our watch. Reduced rainfall will strain all eco-system where for example the United States food supply is grown currently under strain from droughts and record temperatures from California to the Southwest. These areas could become unlivable in the next 100 years. The warmer it gets, the more water people and wildlife will need. The warmer it gets, the more people will need power to keep their air conditioners running. The more air conditioners run the more power and water and Carbon we will be putting into the atmosphere magnifying the effects and impacts of climate change. Are we so adaptable and is there space to move the entire US farming industry from California and the Southwest to Nebraska or Ontario? Probably not.

With days in the Southwest and Southern California could be over 100 degrees every day. These are not things people think about, but are all possible effects of staying the course and not addressing climate change head on. With increased temperatures, insects will have longer breeding seasons and the 2 weeks of black flies people experience in New Jersey at the beaches could be 2 months. Pesky Midge flies not usually seen in northern latitudes may make Maine, Boston, & New York home for entire summers, which could be longer than 2-3 months northerners expect. These will make going swimming a nuisance and could be larger problem for water supplies. Mosquitos will make regular homes in the northern latitudes in San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest, & Connecticut and not just be a 1-2 month minor nuisance. Can you imagine swarms of mosquitos along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan? There will be more fly and spider infestations because these species will thrive in warmer temperatures in northern latitudes. With over an estimated 7 million invertebrates living on Earth, we could see explosion of insects and arachnids because of the heat and a total collapse of mollusks, crustaceans, and coral reefs. All this in an effort to reach an equilibrium of resources and energy. These gains & losses in biodiversity will be very hard for humans to correct through biological, engineering, or researched scientific solutions.

Native trees in New York like Pines, Firs, and Hemlocks are already strained and with a warmer planet, these trees wont be able to survive. Native Oak trees in Georgia will suffer with a warming climate. When native Mangrove swamps in the Philippines, Malaysia, or Florida in the United States dry up, the Mangrove trees will die off. Other species may move in to reach the universal equilibrium the Earth seeks in the never ending competition for resources and our communities will be forever changed. This is not an easy problem to solve for humans. All of these tree species have large local eco-systems attached to them which will also be lost as collateral damage to our negligence. Can you imagine a World with less trees or your favorite ones? What If there were no great northern rainforests left in the Pacific Northwest? Well, that is not a far fetched hypotheses if maintain our course of neglect and inaction.

We have already lost 50% of the Worlds large wildlife population since 1970. Humans are behind the current rate of species extinction, which is at least 100–1,000 times higher than natural selection (https://www.worldwildlife.org). Species diversity ensures ecosystem resilience giving ecological communities the scope they need to withstand stress. Loosing biodiversity in the oceans, plantlife and animal life is a feedback loop that will create less resiliency for humans as a species. Humans don't see or even think about these small micro extinction events, an insect here or there, the loss of a key marine species of the coasts of Australia or Caspian Sea off of Russia or climate warming 1 degree over the last 25 years in Louisiana, but these small events linked to each other and magnified by there inherent relationship within eco-systems are the early steps of extinction and climate change and they are undeniably occurring now. 

We humans have a hard time understanding complex multi-layered things. Much of the writing on global warming, climate change, the sixth extinction, and a changing environment and eco-systems is very hard for us to grasp all the positive and negative feedback loops present. Without understanding complete eco-systems, the impacts are probably far worse than we can comprehend and also contributing to a foreboding future of climate change & the sixth extinction. American plant ecologist and pioneer in the study of vegetation science, Frank Engler stated "eco-systems are not only more complex than we think. They are more complex than we can think."  This is true for all of science, whether it be researching the ocean to going to space. When studied the famous geochemistry figure of the carbon cycle and predictions of what carbon in the atmosphere and what concentrations we would be achieving published more than 25 years ago, it was a far off unimaginable event detached for me of any meaning or feeling. Today the famous Keeling Curve has been proven to be precise and accurate.

There is no more time for debate over if this naturally occurring or affected by human behavior. Its is most likely both, end the argument. Civilized people need to put aside these red herring issues and focus on the severe impact to the planet that is occurring today to end the debate. Winning is helping the planet, not coming out with the top score of a debate. Our priorities are all wrong. but more importantly we need to get to work to affect a change of course because a changed planet will be more hard and far worse to live in than any scientist is telling you today. We are at that point now and we are the canaries. We are at a tipping point.

References:

1. Gresh, Ted, James A. Lichatowich, and Peter Schoonmaker. 2000. An estimation of historic and current levels of salmon production in the Northeast Pacific ecosystem: evidence of a nutrient deficit in the freshwater systems of the Pacific Northwest. Fisheries. 25(1): 15-21.

2. Various Reference Data; https://www.worldwildlife.org/initiatives/wildlife-conservation

3. Meengs, C.C., Estimating the Size of Historic & Current Salmon Runs;  http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/staff/lackey/pubs/estimating.pdf, 2005.

4. Kharunya Paramaguru. The Battle Over Global Warming Is All in Your Head; http://science.time.com/2013/08/19/in-denial-about-the-climate-the-psychological-battle-over-global-warming/. August 19, 2013.

Where in #nyc is your favorite #tree or where are your favorite 5 #trees? I asked myself this recently as I rested from biking under a Norway Maple at the end of the Hudson River Riverside Park trail on a hot day. Ofcourse I was appreciative of the shade it provided in an open part of the trail with sun blazing above. Of the more than 5.2 million trees in New York City (US Forest Service), all are special, but my having special relationships with some is expected; sometimes for sentimental reasons and sometimes because the tree is just an amazing spectacle, or both. There are now available data on the mental and physical health benefits of viewing or being in the presence of trees in your daily life (Nature). They relax us as we walk through them, they inspire us as we look up into them, and they provide service to better physical health outcomes for all of us. A tree and forests serve specific ecological functions and exist in symbiotic relationships with many living organisms in different and varied eco-systems and within urban and suburban neighborhoods, including cities and with humans.

Of my favorite 5 trees in New York City, the grand Tulip tree or generally know as the Queens Giant in Alley Pond Park if an absolute favorite. This tree is estimated to be between 350-450 years old. Tulip trees are capable of living 600 years (NYC Parks), and can reach a height of over 150 feet. These statistics alone create such awe in me as I think about this tree, but when I view this great tree or be in its presence, something magical happens. It is absolutely, my favorite tree in New York City.My remaining 4 favorite trees in NYC include the following;

2. Copper Beach on Lefferts Boulevard & 91ST Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens.

3. Black Locust in Stuyvesant Park in the northwest corner of the South part of park in New York City.

4. A giant Norway Maple in the northwest part of Union Square Park in New York City.

5. Copper Beech in Fort Triumph Park just south of the New Leaf Restaurant and public parking for the park. 

There are so many to list and share like the stands of White Birch trees in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge along Crossbay Boulevard in Queens, New York or the Weeping Willow in the western part of Prospect Park in Park Slope Brooklyn where white squirrels reside and you may see if lucky. Ofcourse some of these are sentimental, but some are majestic reminders of how important trees are in our lives. So if you have 5 favorite trees in New York City, please share them publicly so others can enjoy these gems and if you do not have 5 favorite trees, go find 5 great trees in New York City. If you need a resource to get started on your tree watching the Columbia University Press NYC Parks guide to New York City Trees (Field Guide); A Field Guide for the Metropolitan Area written by Edward Sibley Barnard is a great starting point to your adventures tree watching. Please photo reply with more submissions!

References;

1. US Forrest Service; NYC Tree Census http://www.fs.fed.us/

2. NYC Parks; The Queens Giant at Alley pond Park; http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/alley-pond-park/highlights/19645

3. Nature; Neighborhood greenspace and health in a large urban center http://www.nature.com/articles/srep11610

The mayor has been slow to act on parks in and around New York City. It was or maybe still is starting to look like this Mayor may not be the parks advocate Mayor Bloomberg was in his three terms. That being said, a few weeks ago, NYC DEP Comissioner Emily Lloyd joined Mayor Bill de Blasio, Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, and many of our elected leaders to launch the Community Parks Initiative—a new program to invest in under-resourced public parks. The first phase of the initiative will the target 35 community parks through a $130 million capital investment that promotes the full re-creation of the parks. The Community Parks Initiative will initially target 55 neighborhoods across the five boroughs, benefiting approximately 220,000 New Yorkers living within a 10-minute walk of the selected parks.

The Community Parks Initiative is the first phase of NYC Parks: Framework for an Equitable Future. The framework outlines NYC Parks’ commitment to increasing the accessibility and quality of parks in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs through a dynamic series of immediate steps and long-term initiatives to support sustainable, equitable park development, and implement a targeted level of service improvements across the park system.

Through our Green Infrastructure Initiative, DEP is helping in this effort. DEP has committed more than $36 million in stormwater management funds to the Community Parks Initiative to ensure that the revitalized park spaces also manage stormwater, keeping it out of the combined sewer system and helping to reduce combined sewage overflows that sometimes occur during heavy rainfall. Through a similar partnership with the Trust for Public Land, DEP has helped fund the reconstruction of five school yards to date, creating community playgrounds that collectively manage millions of gallons of stormwater that might otherwise pollute our waterways. In addition, eight more school yards are currently in design or under construction.

While these are good small steps the Mayor has not commented much on the East 91st Municipal Trash Station controversy, the Queensway tracks to trail park after the Trust for Public Land issued their feasibility report when many local politicians have went public with comments supporting restoring the Long Island Railroad, nor has a plaNYC commissioner been selected to continue Mayor Bloomberg’s pro-park initiatives. It is also clear coordination between City agencies on parks initiatives is slow going with regard to sanitation and parks or environmental protection and parks coordination which shows in conditions and upkeep at parks, bioswales, and trash initiatives.

While out of the box quickly appointing commissioners for certain agencies, this appointment is still not made as New York City residents wait and the Mayor passes the 1 year milestone of inauguration as Mayor of New York City. On the East 92 Street MTS, the City does not expect two ongoing federal lawsuits – which effectively challenge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ permitting of the project – to hold up construction. Mayor Deblasio is now living there as he has moved into life at Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side in New York City. If the Mayor acts in favor of the Queensway which was supported by the Trust for Public Land, that would be a big statement for Parks, but I don't see that happening in the near future.

 References:

 NYC DEP Pipeline: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/about_dep/pipeline.shtml

http://www.newsweek.com/east-91st-street-marine-transfer-station-hurdle-de-blasios-tale-two-cities-229717

https://www.tpl.org/our-work/parks-for-people/queensway-project

Recent information released by NYC DEP reported an update to the bioswale & green infrastructure posted on this blog on January 21, 2015. The behemoth New York City government may move slowly at times, but the recent report indicates it is moving successfully. The recent successes reported may lay the groundwork for an expansion to the pilot programs currently being managed. This could be good news for local waterways because more than 20 billion gallons of sewage flows untreated into the local waterways each year. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Office of Green Infrastructure (OGI) identified three neighborhoods in priority combined sewer overflow (CSO) areas: Hutchinson River in the Bronx, Newtown Creek in Brooklyn and Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn, to test the effectiveness of green infrastructure (GI) systems on a multiple block scale. While the DEP appears to be able to incorporate a certain amount of "green infrastructure" & like bioswales into the effort & Citwide improvement of "gray infrastructure” with projects all over New York City.

The standard for effective bioswales is capturing the first inch of rain over 10 percent of the city's impermeable surface—the roads, roofs and concrete that account for about two-thirds of the city landscape. The City is nowhere near this standard at this juncture. It's really about a way to manage storm water as close to the site as possible," said Angela Licata, the department's deputy commissioner for sustainability. "We very much want to promote the greenest of technology." Each swale held as much as 2,000 gallons of storm water, and helped divert roughly 20 percent of storm water, the agency said

City government often looks small. Petty, even. The parking ticket. The real estate tax bill. Sanitary inspection grades. Window guard surveys. The fruitless call to 311 at 2 a.m. to complain about jackhammers outside. From here, however, government doesn’t look petty at all, however what is taken for granted is the enormous effort New York City government places in water infrastructure for the future, millions to plow roads during snowstorms, trash removal, or emergency response 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Just try living without any of these? Nearly 170,000 public drinking water systems are located across the United States. Of these, 54,000 are community water systems that collectively serve more than 280 million people.

Just look around the country, infrastructure investments lag behind where needed for government to provide needed services efficiently. In New Jersey, billions of gallons of drinking water are lost due to leaking, aging infrastructure. Between 20 percent and 22 percent of the state’s drinking water is lost long before it reaches consumers. This is a national problem resulting in $2.8 billion in lost revenue annually, as well as higher costs to consumers, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Estimates range starting at $8 billion needed to be invested in the New Jersey's water infrastructure over the next five years and adding in wastewater treatment facilities, that number rises well above $35 billion. New Jersey is struggling economically and has no plans for this type of capital investment.

New York City is probably the leader in water/wastewater infrastructure improvements has major leakage issues. The Delaware Aqueduct leaks up to 36 million US gallons (140,000 m3) per day. New York is heavily engaged in fixing this $1 billion problem to fix the longest tunnel in the World. More than half the states in the United States do not even have a water leakage reporting protocol and in many of those states, no way of identifying leaks until they are emergencies. A recent study by Gallet's group and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning found the Chicago area alone is losing 22billion gallons of treated water per year through leaky pipes. Across the United States there is an estimated 2.1 trillion gallons of purified drinking water being lost to leakage. The following photo shows new shaft for the $1billion dollar Delaware Aqueduct Bypass Tunnel.

New York City’s water supply, providing more than one billion gallons of water each day to more than nine million residents, including eight million in New York City. The water is delivered from a watershed that extends more than 125 miles from the city, comprising 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes. Approximately 7,000 miles of water mains, tunnels and aqueducts bring water to homes and businesses throughout the five boroughs, and 7,500 miles of sewer lines and 96 pump stations take wastewater to 14 in-city treatment plants.

 DEP has nearly 6,000 employees, including almost 1,000 in the upstate watershed. In addition, DEP has a robust capital program, with nearly $14 billion in investments planned over the next 10 years that will create up to 3,000 construction-related jobs per year. This capital program is responsible for critical projects like City Water Tunnel No. 3; the Staten Island Bluebelt program, an ecologically sound and cost-effective stormwater management system; the city’s Watershed Protection Program, which protects sensitive lands upstate near the city’s reservoirs in order to maintain their high water quality; and the installation of more than 820,000 Automated Meter Reading devices, which allow customers to track their daily water use, more easily manage their accounts, and be alerted to potential leaks on their properties. New York City is the leader! The needs are greater than $1,000 per person in five regions; Far West, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Plains, and the Southwest. Capital spending has not kept pace with water infrastructure needs. Regions like the Midwest and the Northeast have done a better job, with New York City being one of the leaders in investment.

Of major big cities in the United States only California and Texas are in need of more total dollar infrastructure improvements needing to spend $45 biilion and $34 billion, respectively, while New York has estimated expenditures of $23 billion over the next 20 years. Estimates for small to midsized states range from $7-8 billion for small states to $10-15 billion for midsized states like Ohio or Pennsylvania. Based on population in smaller and midsized states and the funding cuts in many of these states, these are huge hurdles for states to meet. Southern states that espouse  low taxes and light regulations will have an even more difficult time meeting the challenge.

New, critically important DEP facilities, such as the Catskill/ Delaware Ultraviolet Treatment Plant, have come on-line over the last few years, and others, such as the Croton Filtration Plant, will soon enter service. This means that the amount of energy consumed by the department’s operations will continue to grow, as will our carbon footprint. In order to meet the City’s emissions reduction targets and improve air quality, we must look to mine the clean, renewable energy opportunities available throughout our vast system.

DEP maintains a system of 19 protected reservoirs and three controlled lakes that impound 580 billion gallons of water at full capacity. Built in the Catskill mountains, the reservoirs in the West-of-Hudson watershed lie well above sea level. To reach New York City and the more than 70 upstate communities that draw from the system, water is conveyed from the reservoirs through aqueducts where it travels upwards of 100 miles by the power of gravity alone. Water is also regularly released from the reservoirs into rivers to support recreation, aquatic habitats, and maintain flow targets necessary for downstream water utilities.

Work continues on a project to connect the Catskill and Delaware aqueducts for the first time. The two aqueducts together convey approximately one billion gallons of water each day to the city from six separate reservoirs located in the Catskills. The interconnect project at the Delaware Aqueduct Shaft 4, in the Town of Gardiner in Ulster County, will allow DEP to move as much as 365 million gallons each day from the Delaware Aqueduct into the Catskill Aqueduct, providing additional operational flexibility and another tool to reduce turbidity in the water supply system after large storms.

David LaFrance, CEO of the American Water Works Association stated fixing the countries fresh water infrastructure problems could cost $1 trillion dollars. "About half of that trillion dollars will be to replace existing infrastructure. The other half will be putting into the ground new infrastructure to serve population growth and areas that currently aren't receiving. These estimates would not even include upgrades to wastewater infrastructure or protection of source water from contamination which has been at the top of the news since the spill at Freedom Industries in West Virginia 1 year ago, the Great Lakes contamination from agricultural runoff or the oil spill in the Yellowstone River. While water utilities across the country spend more than $50 billion a year to treat drinking water, the nation spends less than $207 million a year to protect source waters and prevent pollution from sources such as urban runoff, industrialization, fracking or agricultural runoff. This $1 billion estimate seems too low when you incorporate remedial efforts to water supplies, wastewater improvements, source water protection, and expanded capacity for a growing population. The White House estimates more than $600 billion is needed for drinking wter and wastewater management over the next 20 years, which seems more in line with projects know to be needing completion and the many that will arise or that governments do not have on their radar or agendas.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates investment needed by 2020 would equal $3.6 trillion for all infrastructure and gave the United States an overall report card of D+ on infrastructure countrywide. The genius of the planners and engineers who designed these drinking water collection and gravity-driven delivery systems across the country is not lost on anyone working on or around these systems. It should be a wakeup call when pipes that date back to the Civil War era, which are often never examined until there is a problem or a water main break or a well that has been producing large volumes of water seamlessly start to fail. Despite critics of the interest groups wanting to invest in water infrastructure, the next bill of infrastructure upgrades is coming due in our lifetimes and the neglect in terms of money and new design ideas in the last 50-75 years will be the challenge of public officials in keeping the water flowing so we continue to take it for granted.

References:

1. NYC Pipeline: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/about_dep/pipeline.shtml

2. Photos copy-written and supplied from NYC DEP public photos.

3. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/nyregion/far-far-below-ground-directing-water-to-new-york-city-taps.html?_r=0

4. http://www.nrdc.org/water/water-loss-reduction.asp

5. Bypass Planned for Leaky New York Aquesduct. New York Times. November 19, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-20. The tunnel, to be built under the Hudson River and parts of Dutchess and Orange Counties, will address a problem that has daunted the city since leaks were first discovered in the Delaware Aqueduct in 1988: some 15 to 35 million US gallons (57,000 to 132,000 m3) of water, coming down from the Catskills, have been escaping daily through cracks.

6. http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org

7. Oil Swirls in the Yellowstone River photo from the www.guardian.com.

More than 27 billion gallons of raw sewage and polluted stormwater discharge out of 450 combined sewage overflows (“CSOs”) into New York Harbor alone each year. As the largest urban area in the United States, New York City (NYC), NY, faces substantial challenges in managing stormwater runoff. Currently, there are more than 450 CSO outfalls distributed throughout New York City. The city has been making efforts to reduce CSOs for many years through a variety of approaches including treatment plant upgrades, maximizing the wet-weather flow that is conveyed and treated at the treatment plants, improved CSO regulators, inline storage, and other storage and detention options. Recently, the city has undertaken an innovative initiative to supplement these activities with green infrastructure in order to better manage stormwater runoff. Using natural processes such as infiltration and evapotranspiration, as well as rainwater recycling, green infrastructure source controls reduce and delay the flow of stormwater to the combined sewer system.

Last Month, New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) Departments of Transportation, Parks and Recreation, and Design and Construction, elected officials, environmental advocates, and community groups to announce a major expansion of New York City’s nationally recognized Green Infrastructure Program. These different groups aim to develop standard designs, specifications and procedures for building green infrastructure installations. In the coming months, the City will accelerate ongoing construction to build approximately 2,000 specially engineered curbside gardens, called bioswales in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Bioswales are landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water. They consist of a swaled drainage course with gently sloped sides (less than six percent) and filled with vegetation, compost and/or riprap.

When construction is completed, the 2,000 new bioswales will have the capacity to collect and absorb more than 4 million gallons of stormwater when it rains. NYC DEP engineers estimate that the new bioswales will capture more than 200 million gallons of stormwater each year, and will improve the health of the Bronx River, Flushing Bay, Gowanus Canal, Jamaica Bay and Newtown Creek. Currently, 255 bioswales have already been constructed and there are plans to add thousands more over the next several years. The implementation of green infrastructure has become a critical aspect of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP’s) efforts to address combined sewer overflows within the city, with plans to use green infrastructure to manage runoff from 10% of impervious surfaces within combined sewer areas by 2030

Stormwater in New York City flows over impervious surfaces into roof drains or catch basins in the streets, and from there into the sewers.  These impervious surfaces cover approximately 72% of New York City’s 305 square miles in land area and generate a significant amount of stormwater.  Stormwater can pose challenges to the City in the form of combined sewer overflows and flooding and during significant storm events and post snowstorm melting events carries stormwater with pollution, silt, oils, and whatever else is in the sewers into the rivers of New York City. By softening the impervious urban landscape and naturally absorbing rainwater that would otherwise drain into the combined sewer system and very often into rivers will aid in improving the health of our waterways. It is estimated that New York City will have to spend up to 36 billion dollars over the next 20 years to remedy the stormwater outfall into the rivers of New York City. Bioswales vary in size, have curb cuts that allow stormwater to enter and overflow, and are designed in a way that allows them to manage between 1,300 and 3,000 gallons each during a storm according to NYC DEP engineers in the sustainability division.

The layers of stone and engineered soil contain void spaces that store the stormwater and promote infiltration, therefore reducing pollution outfall to rivers and in some cases removal of pollutants to the environment. The addition of hardy plants encourages infiltration through root growth and increases the capacity of each bioswale through evapotranspiration.

While there appears to be very little Permeable paving or projects in the near future in NYC, there is one in Far Rockaway, Queens that comes to mind. It is in the Far Rockaway section of Queens, permeable pavement was installed within a DOT park-and-ride facility. This source control pilot consists of a porous asphalt section, a permeable pavement section constructed from crushed glass, and a standard asphalt section for comparison purposes. The porous asphalt and crushed glass pavement cover approximately 6,400 square feet and 4,200 square feet, respectively.

Investing in permeable paving systems will be a game changer in reducing CSO outfall into NYC rivers, bays, and channels. Permeable pavement can be introduced in newly built or rebuilt parking decks and parking lots to more permeable surfaces would greatly increase stormwater infiltration and reduce combined sewer outfall to the rivers. Permeable Pavement is a range of sustainable materials, systems, and techniques for permeable surfaces using a base and subbase that allow the movement of stormwater through the surface. While some porous paving materials appear nearly indistinguishable from nonporous materials, their environmental effects are qualitatively different.

Organizations now have the capacity to create ultra-lightweight soil out of the waste stream in order to establish ecological and agricultural systems on rooftops, providing a means for storage during stormwater events that later evaporate leaving roof material in place and the building of detention facilities currently being built to retain stormwater during significant precipitation events only to be discharged later during dry days so current wastewater treatment facilities can handle volumes without discharging to the rivers. What about parks? Why aren't more of these surfaces natural materials or sustainably designed? This all being said, bioswales could be a important small piece in the effort to eliminate combined sewer outfall into NYC rivers. So compared to other cities, I believe NYC is leading the way.

The following photo in series captures permeable paving in Far Rockaway pilot shortly after a storm event, showing the crushed glass pavement in the foreground, conventional asphalt in the middle, and porous asphalt in the background.

The following bioswales appeared to be in good condition, but some random bioswales were not being kept up well by the NYC Parks Department.

“The gardens appeared suddenly along an industrial corridor of Brownsville, Brooklyn—one, two, a half-dozen—as if airlifted from a culde-sac upstate… In what officials have billed as one of the most ambitious programs of its kind in the United States, New York City has, with little fanfare, embarked on a roughly 20-year, $2.4 billion project intended to protect local waterways, relying in large measure on “curbside gardens” that capture and retain storm-water runoff.”

References:

1. Stormwater Source Control in New York City; 

John McLaughlin, is director of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Ecological Services.

Julie Stein, is director of the NYCDEP Wet Weather Planning & Water Quality Policy.

Sandeep Mehrotra, P.E., is a vice president with Hazen and Sawyer.

William Leo, P.E., is a senior vice president with HDR-HydroQual.

Matthew Jones, P.E., Ph.D., is a principal engineer with Hazen and Sawyer.

2. www.thegaiainstitute.org

3. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/home/home.shtml

4. Green Infrastructure Report: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/green_infrastructure/gi_annual_report_2014.pdf

Update & progress on the NYC DEP recent implementation of the Jamaica Bay Watershed Plan Provides Assessment of Completed and Ongoing Projects as well as Upcoming Initiatives to Improve Water Quality and Restore Natural Ecological Functions within the Bay

New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Emily Lloyd recently released the 2014 update to the Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan. The plan, first issued in 2007, focuses on water quality improvements, ecological restoration and enhancing valuable natural resources. The update outlines the numerous initiatives DEP has undertaken, along with state and federal partner agencies, environmental advocates, leading educational institutions and community groups, to protect one of the most bountiful wildlife habitats in the Northeastern Unites States. Ongoing initiatives include wastewater treatment plant upgrades, oyster and ribbed mussel pilot restoration projects, wetlands restoration, green infrastructure projects and Geographic Information System mapping. The updated plan can be viewed on the DEP website here.

“Jamaica Bay is one of New York City’s most unique natural environments and we are committed to protecting and enhancing its overall health and expanding public access,” said DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd. “The Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan sets a framework for this critical work that will be accomplished through partnerships between many different levels of government, local educational institutions, environmental leaders and dedicated community groups.”

Jamaica Bay is a 31-square-mile water body with a broader watershed of approximately 142 square miles, which includes portions of Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County. The bay is a diverse ecological resource that supports multiple habitats, including open water, salt marshes, grasslands, coastal woodlands, maritime shrublands, and brackish and freshwater wetlands. These habitats support 91 fish species, 325 species of birds, and many reptile, amphibian, and small mammal species. Below are updates on some of the ongoing initiatives to protect and enhance the ecological health of Jamaica Bay:

Ribbed Mussel Pilot

In 2011, DEP established a demonstration project of Ribbed Mussels in Fresh Creek, a tributary to Jamaica Bay. Ribbed Mussels are naturally occurring in the Bay and filter water. The project is being monitored to determine whether a more robust population within the center of the channel could remove substantial quantities of impurities from the water, particularly near combined sewer and stormwater outfalls. Monitoring of the mussel colonization density and water quality will continue through late fall of 2014 and a report will be issued in 2015.

Paerdegat Basin Restoration

DEP has restored 52 acres of tidal wetlands and coastal grasslands adjacent to Paerdegat Basin, a tributary of Jamaica Bay. The $35 million project also included the establishment of a five acre ecology park, which highlights many of the city’s ecosystems. This work, in combination with the construction of a $357 million combined sewer overflow retention facility at the head of the basin, has contributed to significant improvement in Paerdegat Basin water quality.

Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrades

DEP operates four wastewater treatment plants located along Jamaica Bay or its tributaries that have the capacity to treat up to 240 million gallons of wastewater every day. Nitrogen is a naturally occurring element that is found in food and other organic materials and is present in wastewater when it enters treatment plants. Because nitrogen is not a pathogen and poses no threat to human health, the wastewater treatment plants were not originally designed to remove it from the treated water before it is discharged into the receiving water body. However, high levels of nitrogen can degrade the overall ecology of a waterway by reducing levels of dissolved oxygen and promoting excessive algae growth, especially in warm weather months. At a cost of $230 million, DEP is implementing advanced technology at the four treatment plants that will reduce daily nitrogen discharges by up to 60 percent.

Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay

In 2011, the City and the federal government announced a new cooperative agreement to improve the parklands adjacent to the Bay. In 2013, the partners established the Science and Resilience Institute to act as a top tier research center, with invaluable local experience from the region’s most respected scientific institutions, which will execute an intensive research program focused on the restoration of Jamaica Bay and advance the role of science in managing resources and building regional resilience to future storms. Earlier this summer, the Institute was awarded a $7.7 million grant from New York State to build a new center to house the research activities as well as to purchase a new research vessel. It also secured a $3.6 million grant to support research efforts.

Marsh and Wetland Restoration

Over the last 150 years, Jamaica Bay has lost a significant amount of marsh and wetland areas due to a variety of factors, including sea level rise, dredging and filling throughout the Bay, a loss of sediment, and increased tidal heights. Many of these changes have permanently altered sections of the bay. As such, habitat restoration along the periphery of Jamaica Bay continues to play a significant role in meeting the goals of creating highly productive ecological areas and improved habitat. The City has been leveraging $7 million of its funds, along with matching federal and state contributions, to help restore over 150 acres of salt marsh islands. In all, DEP has secured $14 million in federal and state funding for wetland restoration in Jamaica Bay over the last 6-years. It is expected that the City can leverage another $8 million to secure an additional $16 million in matching funding over the next few years. Local communities are also taking a strong role in restoration through funding from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and DEP. Non-profit organizations such as EcoWatchers, Jamaica Bay Guardian, and the American Littoral Society have completed a community-based planting effort to vegetate thirty new acres created at Black Wall and Rulers Bar in June 2013.

Marsh Island Wave Attenuator Study

DEP will construct a floating wetland wave attenuator at Brant Point along the southern shoreline of Jamaica Bay. A wave attenuator is an anchored island of floating material offshore of a wetland or shoreline which deflects and reduces the energy of waves. The pilot study will evaluate the potential for wave attenuation on a specific section of eroding wetland shoreline to investigate the growth of beneficial wetland building sediments and the anticipated decreased rate of shoreline loss. The temporary floating wetland structures will be a “proxy” for potential future oyster beds around wetlands to evaluate their wave energy reduction value. DEP has obtained the permits needed for construction to proceed and it is expected that work will begin later this year or in early 2015. Once completed, the attenuator and adjacent shoreline will be monitored for a period of time and the data will be included in a summary report.

Belt Parkway Green Infrastructure Installations

DEP is partnering with the New York City Department of Transportation to build green infrastructure along the medians and shoulder areas of the Belt Parkway. The stormwater that falls on the Parkway, including its bridges, rather than be diverted directly into the Bay and its tributaries, is directed to the green infrastructure where it can be naturally absorbed into the ground. During construction, the installations are excavated and then backfilled with layers of stone and engineered soil. These layers contain void spaces that store the stormwater and promote infiltration. The addition of hardy plants further encourages infiltration through root growth and increases its capacity through evapotranspiration. In addition to naturally filtering and absorbing excess stormwater, the green infrastructure provides important habitats for native plants. Construction is complete at the Paerdegat and Rockaway sites and preliminary observations indicate that they are meeting project objectives. Similar installations for the Gerritsen Bridge are being planned.

Jamaica Bay Watershed Green Infrastructure

DEP is currently engaged in a citywide effort to soften the impervious urban landscape to help absorb rainwater that would otherwise drain into the combined sewer system and contribute to combined sewer overflows into local waterways. A focal point of this effort is the installation of specially designed curbside gardens, or bioswales, in sidewalks throughout neighborhoods that are served by combined sewers, including the Jamaica Bay watershed. The bioswales resemble standard street tree pits, except that they vary in size, have curb cuts that allow stormwater to enter and overflow, and have been designed in a way that will allow them to manage between 1,300 and 3,000 gallons each during a storm. The construction of bioswales throughout the Jamaica Bay watershed will accelerate significantly in 2014-2015.

Area-Wide Sewer Upgrades

The post-World War II commercial and residential development of southeast Queens outpaced the extension of the City’s sewer system and many neighborhoods in the area are not yet equipped with catch basins or storm sewers to drain precipitation from the roadways. The multi-year, $6 billion effort to construct a comprehensive storm sewer system for the area includes projects such as the final stages of the $175 million Springfield Gardens upgrade that will bring nine miles of storm sewers and eight miles of sanitary sewers to the area, a $26 million upgrade for the Brookville Boulevard area, an $18 million project that will bring high level storm sewers to the Twin Ponds neighborhood, and a $5 million project to install an additional sewer line under 183rd Street at Jamaica Avenue.

Oyster Bed Pilot

The restoration of oyster colonies within Jamaica Bay could potentially help regenerate the natural environment of the Bay and also improve water quality. To evaluate whether environmental and climactic conditions are suitable for oyster growth in the Bay, DEP installed an oyster bed off of Dubos Point in Queens and oyster reef balls in Gerristen Creek, in Brooklyn. Monitoring showed adequate conditions for oyster survival and growth and they did in fact reproduce over several years, although there was no sign of new oysters joining the colonies. With $1 million in new funding obtained through the Hurricane Sandy Resiliency Grant Program, the pilots will be scaled up to a half-acre in size in early 2015.

Jamaica Bay Watershed Ecological Atlas

To better inform area-wide wetland protection programs, DEP has developed a Geographic Information System (GIS) based Jamaica Bay Watershed Ecological Atlas. It provides a complete and updated inventory of all vacant City-owned properties and a characterization of their habitat and stormwater attributes, a GIS-mapping and data layer that can be used to develop and leverage future stormwater management ecological restoration designs, and a prioritized list and map of potential sites for stormwater management and ecological restoration and conservation. The Atlas will be available on DEP’s website later this fall.

The 2007 Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan was the result of research and dialogue with stakeholders and consultation with the Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan Advisory Committee. The plan was undertaken in accordance with Local Law 71, which requires DEP to assess the technical, legal, environmental and economic feasibility of protection measures for Jamaica Bay and produce a report every three years. A portion of the money used for the marsh and wetland restoration projects was from environmental benefit funds paid by the City as part of the resolution of an enforcement matter brought by the State pursuant to the First Amended Nitrogen Consent Judgment.

Future pieces will be published on detailed non-profit activities around the Bay and in the parks.

 References:

1. NYC DEP Pipeline: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/about_dep/pipeline.shtml

Environmentalism and Social Work: A Reluctance to Accept How They Are Deeply Interconnected

When I think of a systems approach to solving a problem I think of both social work and environmentalism. Admittedly, these are both strong interests of mine. Ofcourse a systems approach or system thinking exists in many fields and it is often emphasized in both of these fields, yet environmental work doesnt often incorporate social impacts or social work into its scientific problem solving easily, despite having relevant impactful events to people and their lives. On the other hand social work doesnt include environmental or ecological impacts into its people based solutions easily or therapies. Many fields within social work work, social welfare, and social justice leave out environmentalism, while you would never hear of people being brought up in a petroleum geology or minerology course. There is a reluctantance to accept how these two fields are deeply interlinked.

The core physical science curriculums often aim to stick to chemistry, technology, math, and physics among others, hardcore science. The core social science curriculums stick to anthropological, mental health, or substance abuse, among others, softcore science. This is an unfortunate division that has begun to break down in some universities, non profits, and think tanks. Taking a look at the core curriculum at a social work school, there are few, if any courses on or regarding the environment and in the phsyical sciencen schools or environmental programs, few if any courses deal with social work or intensely engage on social impact of development or mineral extraction. Granted, the environmental sciences and the sustainability movement have made strides in incorporating these topics, even superficially into science curriculum. The dividing wall between disciplines must end to solve some of the complex multi-layered problems we face as a society.

One cannot deny the social, spiritual, emotional, and economic impacts of natural and anthropogenic environmental actions like a hurricane, pollution, hydrofracking, over development, tornado’s or unyielding droughts, but seldomnlyn does a Geologist go into great detail about human impacts. Social work often leaves out core ethical principles related to environmentalism which can be impacted from hydrofracking, quality of life when environmental racism is involved in siting waste transfer stations and waste dumps, doing least harm when cutting down forests or using farming practices that degrade the land for others and future generations. One can also not deny the lack of university training for social workers, language and programs for people impacted by these actions. There are not many systems set up before an oil field is being developed, drought hits, or a hurricane impacts New Orleans or New York to deal with these in a good way that assists affected populations that is readily available. Granted, people do find the emotional, economic, social and spiritual help they need from social work, but more systems would help more people more quickly in a time of need.

The environmental community, despite the mentioned strides made around environmental science and sustainability, have a very one tracked problem solving model of problem -> Hypothesis -> Solution related to one small  part of a scientific system. There is rarely a petroleum geology, mineraology, environmental chemistry class that addresses or even mentions the emotional, economic, social, or  spiritual consequences of mineral extraction or hydrocarbon extractions. Its all about the scientific feasibility, technology and costs. Granted some environmental biology classes, do deal with the human experience, but this is often left for the health and medical fields. Conversely, within the social work community, human beings in the environment is stressed or human behavior in the environment, but all too often, this means social environments and very seldomnly includes physical environments in the community. Problems of increased sulfer dioxides (SOX) and nitrogen dioxides (NOX) releases causing asthma, which then is a direct effect on a clients health, physical and in some instances mental health over misuse of resources or conflict surrounding them.

On a small scale, environmental and social work university departments might benefit from incorporating classes into each others curriculum. On a large scale, Social workers could benefit from understanding environmental or scientific principles to assist clients in understanding the impacts of an environmental metric related to a medical condition, mental health issue, conflict resolution over natural resources, storm disaster response and aid, or conflict over water or resource acquisition closing the congitive dissonance around issues that can become complex for clients who might be suffering from a mental health issue. Environmentalists scientists, and engineers could benefit from understanding the community and human factors better before siting a waste transfer station, building a factory, lcoating a mine, designing waste hauling routes, or a fracking well on a farm.

A simple process hazard analysis that includes human factors reviewed by independent boards would be sufficient in identifying risks to the community. While open environmental impact reviews are conducted, human factors are minimized or non-existent. Impact assessment, simply defined, is the process of identifying the future consequences of a current or proposed action (http://www.iaia.org/). This is where environmental scientists with awareness about social impacts and empathy regarding them could have far better outcomes when planning projects. Engineering and empathy? Yes, would be the answer and I suspect a more fruitful solution satisfying more parties might occur. A more robust community of environmental assessment including conservation social workers or environmental social workers could produce a different final assessments as well. Dewane (2005) states that a logical consequence of the exploitation of natural resources is the exploitation of people. I would add the lack of knowledge of science and engineering principles and their involvement in the environmental movement is causing neglect of a core social justice theme and the might add Social Workers association code of ethics (http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/default.asp) impacting clients and therefore neglecting communities and people social workers represent. I would add the same neglect to other environmental, geological, and engineering associations, many of which espouse studying the impact on humans, and the human impact on Earth, but often fall short. More could be done to collaborate on these impactful environmental and social events.

Environmental scientists are primarily interested in conserving and protecting biological life. Social scientists are primarily interested in conserving and protecting human life. Lets bring these walls down to solve larger problems in a multi-disciplinary fashion as conservation social workers, or environmental social workers, and social environmental scientist.

References:

1. http://ifsw.org/policies/definition-of-social-work/

2. http://www.iseek.org/careers/womenstem.html

3. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/women/

4.  http://www.iaia.org/

5. www.socialworktoday.com/archive/092011p20.shtml

I was blown away by the scope of this project and it is only a temporary fix as reported by government organizations and the Army Corps of Engineers. The beach is wider and higher as the Army Corps of Engineers' restoration began around Beach 116th Street in Rockaway Park and will encompass all beaches from Beach 149th Street to Beach 19th Street. The project began in April is estimated to finish by October, but could go until December because of technical difficulties in moving such a large volume of sand.

Hurricane Sandy eroded an estimated 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from here. This along with years of neglect and political stagnation have left the beach vulnerable. Government delays and technical problems should be expected in such a large project with a number of checks to ensure project goes smoothly and taxpayer money being used as well as a lot of environmental regulations.

The corps' first sand placement project here, restored about 700 million cubic yards of sand for severely eroded sections last summer. Earlier photos and reporting can be seen earlier in this blog from the bay by the Atlantic Beach Bridge. A new location chosen by the Army Corps is dredging two miles out off the Rockaway Park shoreline pumping sand through an underwater pipe to the beach while bulldozers spread the dredged sand. The Army Corps will have brought 3.5 million cubic yards of sand to the beaches of Rockaway. That's enough to build two-and-a-half sand castle Empire State Buildings. Walking the new dunes is an amazing sight of engineering scale in an effort to protect rockaway beaches from future storms.

New sand will be distributed across all six miles of beach, extending the width of the beach by 100 feet into the prior ocean shoreline with a new height of almost 15 feet above mean sea level (MSL). "When the waves break out here, they don't break on the boardwalk. They don't break on houses," Falt said. "And also, we're bringing the beach profile up higher to prevent inundation for the Rockaway community."

Current studies include assessing permanent protection solutions for the beach and the bay side of the peninsula and are much further off on the timeline, but this has been incredible progress and an impressive engineering feat.

  Photo References:

Photo 1 - Beach 114th Street beach entrance with old boardwalk slab.

Photo 2 - NYC Parks Department truck at entrance to Beach 116th Street dunes.

Photo 3 - Former WPA boardwalk supports.

Photo 4 - New lifeguard & public restrooms with protective sand bags.

Photo 5 - Beach grass planting on new dunes.

References:

1. http://www.ny1.com/content/newss - Dan Falt

2. Army Corps of Engineers public statement