Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Rising tides

What we just experienced wasn't even a hurricane and look at the problems it caused. While this weekend's Storm Leaves a Toll of Flooding and Hardship in its wake, and the Army Corps of Engineers is entering a New Phase for a Decades-Old Shoreline Plan on Long Island, a warning comes from the UN that the city will drown if the Earth warms.

Emily Lloyd, commissioner of the city's Department of Environmental Protection, confirmed that a rising sea level and more frequent and intense storms are threats.

The DEP has been working with the Parks and Transportation departments to use roadways and open spaces to hold storm water until it can be absorbed more slowly after storms. "We've already done quite a bit of this on Staten Island because there's so much open land," Lloyd said.


Once again, building towers on the waterfront and filling in every inch of open space in the city with concrete may not be the smartest idea.

Photo of flooding in Howard Beach from 1010WINS.com

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You see folks....Queens got f----d in the 1930s under borough president Maurice Connelly, I believe, and got only ONE water disposal pipe system instead of two like some of the other boroughs!

What did Connelly???? do with the money for the 2nd sewer pipe system....??????? Take a guess!

Result...... rain, shit & piss water use the same single pipe and that's why it can't be disposed of properly.

So all of you greedy developers keep on building those mega-towers with a one pipe water disposal system.

Talk about our shitty infrastructure and its inability to sustain our existing population....let alone increased growth!

Anonymous said...

Well..... if I were stupid enough to want to live in "Queens West" I'd opt for, at least, a 6th floor apartment and keep my rowboat handy.....tied up to my balcony rail!

Maybe they should feature "evacuation watercraft" at the National Boat Show coming to the Javits Center!

Will the waterfront developers (Suna, Rockrose, etc.) provide lower floor residents with a water taxi service, in case of emergency? I doubt it.

After the closing and you've purchased your condo, you're on your own! All of that smiling and handshaking quickly turn into the "middle finger" in the air (the developers' sign off)!

georgetheatheist said...

If you've got a lemon, make lemonade....www.veniceforvisitors.com

Anonymous said...

Sixty five percent of the city has combined sewers, not just Queens. The reason is that when the sewers were built there was no requirement for all sewage to be treated and therefore there were no plans to build treatment plants to service the entire city. Therefore there was no reason to build separate storm and sanitary sewer systems, since all the sewage was just going out into the harbor.

It's not just mega-towers that contribute to the overflow from combined sewers, it's every single person and every single building in any area that has combined sewers. Unfortunately, the only real solution is to rip up all the sewers and start over, which isn't going to happen.