Water Usage & Pollution in Harlem
Before the class discussion about water plants and water pollution, I never gave it much thought to where all my wastewater went to or how much I was using per day. Since I dorm at The Towers at CCNY right next to campus, the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant, discussed in class, is most likely to be where my wastewater is processed. According to the NYC Environment Protection page, it is located on the Hudson River and is responsible for the wastewater treatment for western Manhattan. The plant treats 125 to 340 million gallons of wastewater per day. Construction on its foundation was completed around 1991 and it underwent two phases of construction. It has won many awards for its design; the plant is organized by a computer system and has a very efficient odor control process.
In terms of my own role in water conservation, my dorm has been very efficient in attempting to conserve water. They installed adjustable water faucets last year and recently replaced them with water conserving faucets; these faucets are unfortunately inconvenient for me. Due to the decreased water pressure (amount of water released), it takes me about two times longer to wash my face or brush my teeth. However, I always make sure to turn the water off when I am not using it. While I complain about how I have to spend more time in the bathroom in the mornings, it is ultimately a first-world problem since the conservation of water was applied to the whole building as a whole, water usage can and will decrease dramatically in the future.
References:
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/wastewater/northri.shtml
1 Comment
Andres Orejuela
December 13, 2018The term “first-world problem” trivializes serious problems that can have long-lasting consequences and effects. The water treatment and waste plant in Harlem, for example, was moved North after residents in other parts of Manhattan complained about its placement in their neighborhoods; in fact, they were right: the waste plant arrived in Harlem, causing a stench that still resonates in the once mostly-Black neighborhood today. Why did people think it was fine to bring this stench to Harlem? It is for this reason that the “second phase” of construction began. It covered up the smell, which was toxic in addition to obviously unpleasant. All of this is a problem because as the Department of Sanitation tries to convince neighborhood residents to permit the building of new waste and water treatment plants–new plants informed by the latest technologies that would benefit neighbors and the entire city, a city which has an ever-ballooning waste and water usage cost–past injuries remain just below the surface in these conversations, and sometimes bubble to top for all to smell them. All of this of course starts beyond your sink, but that’s where it ends.