Author: sylviafranco

Starting here at Brooklyn College

For our group project, we were assigned to address the problem of the Coney Island Sewershed and propose some solutions. Through realizing that we were currently IN our assigned sewershed, we began to think of solutions that could be done here at brooklyn college. After learning about the one water solutions in class and how water is being conserved by integrating lots of water systems in order to recycle the water, this implemented an idea of how we could recycle water here. Brooklyn College has lots of impermeable surfaces such as the roofs on most of the buildings. We think that maybe if we could catch rain water from these roofs and collect it in a basin, we could use the water to irrigate some plants on the plenty of greenspace at our college. We proposed a “farm to table” solution and maybe some of the restaurants in our area would buy some of these crops to use. This idea would allow a more sustainable environment for our community and we would be able to manage some water here so it doesn’t go to waste.

 

Battery Park City

My trip to battery park city this time, was different than the many other times I’ve been there. It’s pretty weird that I’ve been there so many times and I’ve never known about the many different integrated water systems there. Maybe they need to publicize it more for more New Yorkers to know.

Anyway, my first stop was the Solaire Building. I found that the Solaire building is one of the few buildings in the city that tries to provide a solution to CSOs there. The building is landscaped for water conservation. The building is importantly known for its rainwater collection and graywater reuse. The bathrooms in the solaire have low-flow and dual- flush toilets. The building also uses solar panels, providing a sustainable power source to the residents who live there. The solaire is a prime example of what buildings in NYC should be like in order for us to be able to conserve more water during this time.

My next stop was walking around the solaire building, in which I noticed that there are many parks which incorporate lots of green infrastructure to the area. The green infrastructure reduces stormwater runoff which contributes to the area’s solution of solving the issue of CSOs.

Next I went to the 9/11 memorial fountain and the balloon flower. This memorial has the ability to use rainwater and grey water instead of clean water to attract tourists to the area. this could help further reduce runoff. The balloon flower is a great way to use art in order to help limit runoff in NYC. Using small fountains and drains that may use rainwater or grey water may limit the amount of runoff in NYC.

Overall, this trip provided me with more knowledge of integrated water systems in NYC. Maybe, if more areas implemented these ideas, we would be more sustainable and be able to conserve more water.

 

One Water Approach

In class, we discussed the one water solution and how integration of the water systems would lead to an increase in water management. This approach helps the environmet and helps communities manage their water in a not so difficult way. While being aware that recycling water is a good thing nowadays, we must be aware of the cost and work that needs to be done in order to make it happen. For example, water that has been used must be decontaminated in order to reuse it. Water such as stormwater runoff impacts source water quality and therefore treatment is needed in order to reuse this water. While ways to access this treatment may be expensive and costly, its pretty much worth it because in the end, we are saving water which is something we all need. It is our responsibility to provide clean water for the public and this is a great way to begin with the possibility of reusing water already available to us.

Conserving water, one drop at a time

This article suggests many ways that the individual could conserve water from home. For example, many people can check the flow of water running from their toilets and showers, and make sure they do not exceed the recommended amount of flow. We could turn the faucet off while brushing our teeth/ scrubbing our hands. We could limit the length of our showers to make sure that we are not wasting too much water. We could check the pipes and faucets to make sure there is no water being wasted.

These things seem pretty simple to do, I think the problem is making people more aware of these ideas. If many people knew that conserving each drop of water possible was important, we would be able to increase the conservation a lot. We need to come up with ways to spread the awareness in order to conserve water and this planet, for us and for future generations.

Hurricane Irma= too much wastewater

Florida was hit by a category 5 storm, Hurricane Irma, and now there is an indeterminate amount of wastewater that is accumulating over the land. The EPA estimated that there is tens of thousands of gallons of sewage piling out of the sewers in many parts of florida as a result to the storm. 

Because of this, Florida’s devastation is not to be cleared any time soon, until solutions are proposed for this conflict. In class, we’re trying to propose solutions for our own assigned sewersheds, so maybe one of our solutions that we come up with may in fact be the one for Florida’s conflict.

Water Post Hurricane Harvey

We’ve learnt that water is so important- it carries nutrients for plants so they can survive and grow. Water travels downhill and carries salt and nutrients to the ocean. Therefore, most plants that live in the ocean live near the coastline where they can get to the nutrients that come from the land (which is carried by the water). However, as seen by this NY Times article, water’s ability to carry isn’t always a good thing. After Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, much of the water has carried and deposited toxic chemicals and dangerous bacteria. Likewise seen at Flint ,Michigan, much of the water after hurricane harvey in Texas was contaminated with dangerous chemicals and materials.

Tests that have been conducted on the sewage resulted positive for lead, arsenic, and chromium, which are dangerous chemicals. Not only did the water carry dangerous chemicals, but it carried large things like mattresses, refrigerators, and rugs.

Many of us underestimate the power of water. Water is very strong and powerful. Not only does it carry nutrients, but it also sometimes carries harmful chemicals, and therefore it must be examined properly.

Macaulay Bio Blitz

On Sunday, I went on a trip to Alley Pond Park for the Macaulay Bio Blitz. Upon arriving there, we were each assigned to different groups to determine what we would be doing at the park. My group’s job was to find salamander in the park. It sounded like a tough job (salamander are quite small amphibians). Yet luckily, we determined the right place and environment they like to live in and we found some pretty easily. As we learnt in class, each ecosystem has certain abiotic and biotic factors that contribute to its animals, plants and environment in it. Here for example, Salamander like to live under logs- because they look cool and moist environments. It was pretty cool to see how a log which was once a biotic factor of the ecosystem, a living tree, was now an abiotic factor for the salamander, becoming its shelter.