My group's research on Coney Island Sewer Shed has made me realize how many little things add up to pollute our waters. This is so angering to see! https://t.co/xwLXaVd3EZ
— Ji Soo Choi (@JiSooChoiMHC) November 29, 2017
The main thing that I learned in this Macaulay Seminar was that creating a sustainable world means everyone must take part in caring for the environment. My group is specifically looking at the solutions for Coney Island Creek, and researching the reasons why it got to be one of the dirty dozens and violate the Clean Water Act in the first place. We have learned that a combination of uncaring actions from residents and lack of care from government officials has led Coney Island Creek to suffer from events like CSO and flooding.
According to an article from Brooklyn Daily New York approved a permit “for the city to pour up to 7.2 million gallons of filtered, contaminated groundwater into Coney Island Creek every day for up to two years while the city upgrades sewer and water mains in Coney’s west end.” The problem is these waters have heavy metal that can pollute bodies of water and harm wildlife living in parks and beaches near the area. Officials claim that these metals will not reach dangerous concentrations since it will be diluted once poured into the large bodies of water. I believe this is the exact reasoning that has lead Coney Island Creek to deteriorate in quality like it has. Every little action we take can either improve or worsen the quality of Coney Island Creek. It is even worse that government officials do not seem to be transparent about their actions and are not always experts in the affects of water. I hope that our project can convince some people to use water conservatively and realize that we must work together to protect the safety of out water for future generations.
