My project was for the Macaulay STEAM festival this year was based on the 26th Ward Sewer Shed located in the Jamaica Bay Area in Brooklyn, New York. The 26th Ward in Brooklyn serves the communities of Starret City, Brownsville, East New York Cypress Hills, and Spring Creek, a community of a generally lower socioeconomic status that is often further economically depressed when storm surge from catastrophic events like superstorm Sandy damage property and create health hazards. A major issue challenging the 26th Ward is combined sewer overflow (CSO). CSO occurs when stormwater on roofs, streets, and sidewalks, in addition to wastewater from residential and commercial businesses, is carried through to treatment plants, causing an excess of water in the treatment system. This excess then spills into and pollutes the nearby Jamaica Bay.
Given the complexity of this issue, NYC can approach it from a two-fold stance through the implementation of grey and green infrastructure. In particular, the development of a deeper storage tunnel-interception system would allow CSO to be contained through the construction of interceptor tunnels. These tunnels will release the excess water into the system once the system has the capacity to effectively process it. In addition, public green spaces (on rooftops and parks) can be made impervious so as to slow down the rate at which water flows into the system.
Due to their lower socioeconomic status, people in Jamaica Bay are often aided last after natural disasters – even though they face the brunt of the catastrophe. Some people that live here already do not have enough money to pay for everyday necessities, let alone all of the money they must now expend to pay for damaged property. A safer neighborhood due to well regulated runoff will attract contracters, real estate agents and more families to an area that has great potential to be a neighborhood and greenspace with a unique personality in the City of New York.
