Battery Park City is located in west side of the southern tip of Manhattan. Home to the Solaire. This park has become an iconic spot for innovative technics in sustainability. Along with its impressive architecture it houses residents and a waste treatment room. This waste treatment room is essential to the area because it helps treat rainwater. This treated rainwater is then used for residential toilets and more. Moreover, the Solaire as a green rooftop. This rooftop allows for the collection of rainwater which is drained into the treatment plant. Not only is this sustainable, but it also reduces costs because it is naturally collected through the drains.
The treatment pumps we see in the Solaire are part of a sustainable plan that other cities should be following. the Solaire should serve as an example. Small changes in green infrastructure like the rooftop water drains can make a huge impact on a cities water supply. To add, not only does this help with water supply it reduces water pollution and biodiversity.
Overall, this trip to the Solaire was fundamental in learning about sustainability. It showed sustainability in the works and therefore, turned an “abstract idea” into reality. I wasn’t sure what to expect when i visited Battery Park City, but what i saw was definitely not what i imagine. Instead of being dirty or smelly like you’d assume a water-treatment building to be it was extremely clean and beautiful. Lastly, the Solaire makes the idea of future cities being more sustainable more possible. I can definitely see other cities adapting these technics and i hope they do.
