Are sea barriers the way to go?

From the NY Times:

The technology of movable sea barriers, from Stamford’s modest flap gate to London’s mighty 10-gate system in the River Thames, has long intrigued engineers and planners contemplating a solution for low-lying areas of New York City. The notion is that such a system could one day block surges from Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean into the East River and New York Harbor.

Now, in the aftermath of the devastating storm, one question is front and center: Should New York armor itself with steel and concrete at a cost of billions of dollars?

Experts whose barrier designs and studies from a conference in 2009 were issued on Monday in book form argue that anything short of sea gates would be a “Band-Aid” approach.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has expressed wariness about the barrier proposal, saying he is not sure the gates would work well enough. Yet, it is clear that his administration’s view is evolving.

Gribbles, shipworms and mollusks, oh my!

From the NY Times:

The significantly cleaner harbor, despite recent sewage problems, has created a problem for parks officials by allowing two marine pests — shipworms and gribbles — to flourish. Together, they attack wood pilings; the gribbles, which are tiny crustaceans, chew from the outside, while shipworms, larger mollusks, bore tunnels within.

“We literally have a clean harbor, but it’s causing incredible devastation to the physical infrastructure of the waterfront, and it’s costly to repair and replace,” said Adrian Benepe, commissioner of the city’s park’s department.

The city has tried to save disintegrating timber pilings in the past, with things like chemical treatments and plastic wrap, but to no avail. Engineers say that reinforced concrete is the best material to withstand the wood-ravaging invertebrates below and support the throngs of parkgoers above. As the public hungers for greater access to the long-elusive waterfront, parks officials first have to shore up a hidden support network across the city’s more than 500 miles of coastline.

Pouring concrete underwater is expensive, however. According to city estimates, hundreds of millions of dollars have already been spent in recent years on pier construction, and work to be done in just the next five years is expected to cost an additional $300 million.

Preventing poop overflow

From the Huffington Post:

More than 27 billion gallons of untreated sewage and polluted wastewater spill into New York Harbor every year, often after as little as one-tenth of an inch of rain overloads the city's antiquated plumbing system that combines waste from homes and businesses with normal stormwater. What's more, the public is often left unaware of these sewer overflows, and sight or smell is not always enough to decipher water quality.

"This is a sleeper issue that the public assumed was solved 20 years ago," Judith Enck, regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 in New York City, told The Huffington Post. "Larger volumes of sewage, a crumbing infrastructure and heavier rains have created the perfect storm."

City water is whale habitat

From Metro:

The world’s biggest animal is swimming just off New York City’s shores.

A total of six whale species have been spotted from Long Island to New York Harbor, scientists announced yesterday.

Whales have been known to surface near New York, but it wasn’t until researchers submerged sound recorders off Long Island in 2008 that they found out how many and how often whales are found just off Lower Manhattan.

“I was completely shocked,” said Christopher Clark, director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell, who studies whale sounds. “Off New York, we’ve found that we have some of the greatest animals on earth.”

Whales and dolphins and seals, oh my!

From the Daily News:

Whales, dolphins and seals have made a triumphant return to the waters just outside New York Harbor - and the comeback has even sparked whale and seal-watching tours.

Tom Paladino, captain of two ferry boats from the Rockaways, says pods of aquatic mammals off the city's coast have "increased tenfold."

"We used to see 10 whales a year - now we see 100," he said. "We saw dolphins almost on a daily basis between June and September."

There are so many more seals in New York Harbor that earlier this month he started weekend tours on his ferry, American Princess.

On one trip last weekend, he counted 14 lolling on a small island off Staten Island.

Cornell University Prof. Chris Clark estimates that as many as 30 to 50 fin whales now live full-time in the waters just past the Verrazano Bridge.