Author: Matt Denaro

Dangerous Development for New York Metropolitan Area Water Management

There is a proposed plan for expanding the Teterboro Airport put forth by the US Army Corps of Engineers.  This plan proposes to fill 11 acres of wetlands around the airport to accommodate aircraft that are increasing in size.  However, filling in these wetlands pose a severe threat to the wellbeing of the surrounding area, both in terms of flooding and biodiversity.  After these wetlands are filled in, impervious asphalt airstrips and parking areas as well as metal hangers will fill the area.

This threat is being downplayed by the project managers, but local politicians and residents are more nervous about the potential expansion of the airport. The Meadowlands area already has issues with dealing with their runoff and flooding and this plan would only further the problem.  The local politicians are pushing for enhanced storm water retention systems to combat the flooding and runoff effects that this plan would potentially cause.  This system would not help to ameliorate the damage to biodiversity that this expansion could cause. Although local politicians and residents are fighting against it, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection determined the plan was okay and “it does not require local approval.”

The impact on the environment and water management needs to new land development, particularly  when it extends into biodiverse wetlands. Although it seems that its impact is suitable, the fact that there is this much of a public uproar about the possible negative impact of the plan is worrying. Biodiversity needs to be protected and it seems it is being left behind in favor of the efficiency of airports, as the airport is being expanded to fit the growing size of planes. Considering water management is already an issue in this area, a plan that has a distinct possibility of negatively impacting an already tenuous system of water management seems worrying.

Battery Park City

Battery Park City on New York’s Downtown is leading the way in integrated water solutions.  Not only does it have LEED certified environmentally friendly  Solaire building, but abundant green space including Teardrop Park, which surrounds The Solaire as well as Rockefeller Park, which is across the street from The Solaire.  Plentiful green spaces make it easier to manage water because instead of rain running off along impervious concrete, as is the case in much of the city, the water can be absorbed into the earth, benefiting the plant life there obviously but also helping people by preventing combined sewer overflows due to the lessened runoff.

The Solaire has done a lot to be a forerunner in green real estate development and there is much to learn from its developers.  The building as a water reuse system onsite which allows for the collection and treatment of grey and black water for drinking and plumbing.  It also has solar panels on some parts of the walls and windows, creating a more sustainable, and likely cheaper, power source for the building. Although it may be difficult to install water treatments in all basements in New York’s apartment buildings, especially considering the age of some of them, but theres still much to be learned from The Solaire’s efforts that can be applied to New York as a whole.  For example, water treatment can be spread across a few buildings where each building does its part.  This would also help to make it more equitable as the equipment is likely expensive and the cost could be spread across multiple buildings.

Another thing New York can learn from Battery Park City’s dedication to sustainability is the abundant green spaces.  So much of the area is dedicated to public parks like Rockefeller and Teardrop parks.  Although it may be hard to convert a lot of New York into parks, smaller parks, dotting the grey concrete landscape of New York with green, can still do a lot to help with water management.

City Summit 2017

Next week in Charlotte, North Carolina City Summit 2017 will be held to discuss the future of America’s cities.  Although water and sustainability won’t be the only topic of discussion, it will most definitely be an important and resonant topic.  A portion of the summit’s activities will be dedicated to cities that have started to use  One Water’s strategies to accomplish reforms in the way cities handle water.  Some of these cities include Tucson, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles.  Many American major cities are coming together and collaborating in planning for a more sustainable future.

One Water presents a comprehensive plan for water management in our future cities.  With a mind for sustainability, equitability, and affordability as well as health, safety, aesthetics, among other qualities, One Water is becoming increasingly attractive to more and more cities across the country.  However, what really makes One Water stand out from other options cities have in water management is its dedication to community involvement and collaboration and integration with local politics.  Considering One Water has partnered with the National League of Cities, the organizers of City Summit 2017, for this summit is evidentiary of their dedication to being involved on a deeply local scale. Understanding that water management is likely to be different for many cities, crafting specific plans following the general ideas and principles of One Water for different cities becomes easier.  Hopefully the 2017 City Summit produces some important pathways for future development of many cities’ water management plans.

Water Management and the Risk of Flooding in America

It is clear that the United States must take on some sort of project for the betterment of our water management systems.  With recent devastation caused by flooding from Hurricane Harvey, Irma, Maria, and others in cities like Houston, Texas and San Juan, Puerto Rico, the need for effective flood control measures are growing increasingly more necessary, particularly in coastal urban areas. Extremely effective flood control measures have been put in place in places like Holland already and the Dutch are dumbfounded as to why the US has not followed suit.

According to the CNN article, after a ravaging 1953 storm in Holland, a country that is 7 feet below sea level, began discussing plans to prevent such an event from happening again. To contrast, since 1953, there have been 11 category 5 hurricanes that hit the US and have caused billions in damage, not to mention the loss of human life.  By 1959, Holland had regulations and a plan of action to build the Delta Works, a system of dams and levees that now protect The Netherlands from catastrophic flooding. Although the project was costly, upwards of 5 billion dollars, this cost is nothing compared to the enormous cost of hurricane damage, both in terms of money and loss of life. Considering the magnitude and extent of these storms are only going to increase with the seemingly unceasing advance of global climate change, the US is long overdue for an improvement in their water management and flood control systems.

The fact that the Federal government has done nothing major to fix this issue of massive flooding, despite the technology being there for quite some time, is concerning.  Not only does not bettering the current flood control systems cost billions and billions of dollars, but it also costs hundreds, if not thousands of lives.  The technology is there, but the government is unwilling to take on the cost of it, despite spending billions per year on military spending, among other  things that seem increasingly frivolous. Although updates to flood control systems are overdue, it is not too late to still implement them; however, considering the current administrations ideas about climate change and government subsidizing public works, it seems that this will not be achieved any time soon.

Equitable Development and Climate Change

With growing concerns over climate change, it has become increasingly necessary to discuss and plan development changes to fit the changing climate. Some residential and commercial buildings near flooding zones, or areas that may become flooding zones in the future, need to be retrofitted to be able to withstand flooding and other climatic events.  However, these developments need to be made equitable, meaning it must impact and serve people with at least some semblance of equality. If this does not occur, it can lead to augmented problems for already disadvantaged people.

However, this kind of equitable development may not happen under the Trump administration. According to the The Nation article, the Trump White House has ended some Obama-era EPA reforms that enforce equitable development and maintain federal standards for development. As the article argues, this may lead to inequitable development that could upend communities of color and/or poor communities in the case of large natural disasters caused by a rapidly changing climate.

As the article discusses, New York has made some strides in equitable development after Sandy. Evacuation plans for seniors and people with disabilities living in public housing. However, there is still more to be done and it is unsure how this can be accomplished considering the Trump reforms to the EPA and standards on development.  Equitable development is a necessary thing, particularly in a world that has a changing climate that could potentially impact some more than others.  Equitable planning and development must be apart of the discussion concerning climate change and what society can do about it.

 

 

NYC Water

When you google “Why does NYC have…”, one of the top 5 results is about its water.  New York City has basically given itself a reputation of having amazing tasting and clean water.  However, as this Thrillist article discusses, New York doesn’t even make the top 10 list of water quality in the United States. (Note: The data being used is from 2009).  As the video mentioned, New York’s bagels and other baked goods’ popularity is commonly attributed to New York’s water quality, but is more about craft.  Furthermore, as the article mentions, our baked goods are probably hurt more than they are helped by the water quality.  Its incredibly interesting that despite seemingly being untrue, New York has a reputation for having great water and its bagels and pizza are great because of its water.

As the article discusses, when New York had to rethink its water supply in the 1940s and 50s, it was actually this fabricated reputation for having great water that prevented New York’s water from being sourced from the Hudson. Since people thought the Hudson was a disgusting body of water, they did not want to get their water from there, despite the water source being 70 miles upstream. So instead of sourcing water from the river, the watershed that is currently used to give New York City its water was made.  It is incredibly ironic that it was this reputation that prevented the Hudson River from being New York’s water supply, despite this reputation for having some of the best water in the country being largely untrue.

 

NYC Composts

In 2015, the New York City Department of Sanitation announced their goal to have zero landfill waste by 2030.  By limiting our landfill waste, the City of New York is able to cut down on waste transportation, processing , and storage costs.  Shipping NYC’s trash alone costs $400 million a year. This also reduces emissions and energy usage in addition to making New York City a better and cleaner place to live.  This mission encompasses the tripartite scope of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental.  Although, it may be a lofty goal to completely end landfill waste in 15 years, it is most definitely a step in the right direction towards a more sustainable New York.

Part of this 0x30 Campaign is to introduce composting as part of the garbage regime of New Yorkers.  Right now, most people recycle hard plastics, metals, and paper and then just throw out the rest.  However, much of what goes into landfill trash can actually be composted.  17% of all of NYC trash is food scraps that can be composted. Large composting buckets are being handed out by request to various apartment buildings and houses. However, the Department of Sanitation does not currently pick up compost everywhere.  For places not served by the DoS, people can drop their compost off at 60 locations throughout the five boroughs setup by GrowNYC.

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In addition to composting, food scraps are beginning to be used to generate energy for the city.  Anaerobic digesters use bacteria and other microorganisms that eat New Yorkers food scraps and, in turn, produce methane, which can be used as an energy source.  The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is one of the locations that have been multi-purposed to dual as an anaerobic digester.  Although its use is fairly minimal right now, as infrastructure is developed for it, anaerobic digestion will likely be used as a source of energy for New York City.

Shrubbery at BioBlitz

This weekend, Macaulay Honors sophomores took park in a BioBlitz, cataloging flora and fauna at Alley Pond Park.  With the help of biologists, we were able to identify plants and animals in the park and engage with nature in a way many do not get to.  I was assigned to the plant group and was tasked with identifying shrubs.  Shrubs are plants with multiple woody stems coming from the same place and have leaves.  Some shrubs have flowers, while others have fruits, both, or other reproductive mechanisms.

My favorite shrub that we found was the Viburnum setigerum shown above.  Its a shrub that both flowers and produces fruit.  Its fruit comes around the fall, so these berries are quite premature and need a bit more ripening.  It reminded me of the bushes that produce round, red berries that were poisonous outside of my elementary school.  However, these berries, according to one of the assistants are edible.  Also, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden, the leaves can be made into tea.

Upon further research into this plant from Missouri Botanical Garden, I found out that Viburnum setigerum is not native to New York, but Central and Western China.  Assuredly, NYC Parks put a lot of thought into what they were going to plant in Alley Pond Park so it should be assumed that this plant, although not originally from here, can live healthily in the ecosystem of Alley Pond Park and contribute to the biodiversity of the park without damaging the ecosystem it inhabits.

 

 

 

Availability of Food

In thinking about “What is science?”,  one thing to consider is the scope of it. Science extends to just about everything, including food.  This video explains how closely tied science is to food in terms of food availability concerning local availability. It insightfully claims that much of the food that is eaten on a daily basis would be inconceivable without food science and technology like refrigeration.  It paints a rather scary image of a severely understocked supermarket with mostly rotten foods, highlighting the importance of science in something as routine as grocery shopping.

 

 

 

 

However, it only touches on the great importance of food science on a global scale.  Without food science and technology, the way food is produced and stored/shipped as well as the functions of nearly everyone’s daily lives would be radically changed.  Furthermore, without food science the 20th century would have been wrought with tragic famines. In an even known as the Green Revolution, scientists were able to develop more efficient agricultural practices, new technologies, and high yield staple crops, which were used to prevent the world’s rapidly expanding population from starving to death. So when you are thinking about what science is, think of the cold orange juice in your fridge and world a few steps closer to living in post-scarcity.

 

Sources:

“Availability of Food Colin Dennis, Ph.D., Previous Director-General, Campden BRI, Explains How Access to a Variety of Safe and Nutritious Foods Would Be Affected in a World without Food Science.” Availability of Food – IFT.org.

Briney, Amanda. “All You Wanted to Know About the Green Revolution.” ThoughtCo, 17 May 2017.