Less crap in the cove

From the Times Ledger:

The city hopes to stop the overflow of sewage into Powell’s Cove with improvements to sewer infrastructure and the Tallman Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The city Department of Environmental Protection updated the College Point Civic Association last month on the progress of the project.

Crews will soon begin work on the Tallman Island Wastewater Treatment Plant before moving on to building the Whitestone Interceptor which when completed will be a new pipe to help a mixture of rainwater and sewage reach the plant without getting backlogged. Some of that water, called combined sewer overflow, currently spills out of a pipe at the edge of Powell’s Cove Park.

“Right now it’s spilling into the cove,” said Colin Johnson, of the DEP, referring to instances when heavy rainfall overwhelms the system and triggers the overflow.

The DEP is about to make improvements to the plant to accommodate the new flow patterns. Those improvements, along with the construction of the extra pipeline beneath the park, are expected to be completed in August, 2014.

Wastewater from Whitestone currently flows westward toward College Point through a pipe beneath 11th Avenue.

At the same time, wastewater from Flushing flows north toward College Point through another pipe called the Flushing interceptor.

At the intersection of the two, a problem arises.