Guest Post from Vijay Jayaraj at the CO2 Coalition. We humans dream of colonizing Mars, building flying cars, and achieving immortality. Yet, amidst this fervent pursuit of futures that sometimes drift into fantasy, we’re neglecting critical problems of the present.
Every time it rains in New York, millions of gallons of sewage-laced stormwater flows into the city’s waterways. Instead of being diverted to a wastewater treatment plant, what goes down your toilet ends up floating along rivers, canals, beaches, and waterfront parks. All told, more than 20 billion gallons of feces-polluted water is flushed out onto the city’s coastline every year.
This deluge is the result of New York’s antiquated combined sewer overflow (CSO) system, which was first introduced in the 1800s. About 60 percent of the city is still hooked in to this system, which allows stormwater from the streets to be combined with raw sewage; whenever a rainstorm overwhelms the sewers, that gross mixture flows into waterways around the five boroughs. The coast of New York City is lined with 460 outfall locations, each one discharging millions of gallons of sewage into New York Harbor every year.
MY note: This gives new meaning to the term "Green".
2020 article
Every time it rains in New York, millions of gallons of sewage-laced stormwater flows into the city’s waterways. Instead of being diverted to a wastewater treatment plant, what goes down your toilet ends up floating along rivers, canals, beaches, and waterfront parks. All told, more than 20 billion gallons of feces-polluted water is flushed out onto the city’s coastline every year.
This deluge is the result of New York’s antiquated combined sewer overflow (CSO) system, which was first introduced in the 1800s. About 60 percent of the city is still hooked in to this system, which allows stormwater from the streets to be combined with raw sewage; whenever a rainstorm overwhelms the sewers, that gross mixture flows into waterways around the five boroughs. The coast of New York City is lined with 460 outfall locations, each one discharging millions of gallons of sewage into New York Harbor every year.
MY note: This gives new meaning to the term "Green".
Hypocrites!
Thank you, Chris!!