New York City and Our Peculiar Sewage System

New York City has a fascinating history, and few things are more fascinating than our ever-developing infrastructure. But did you know that for such a modern, forever changing city, our sewage system has remained a relic of the past?

Half of our current system was actually designed in the 1800s as a method of disease prevention! While an interesting historical study, it’s not very good for the modern world. The initial sewage system was a one-tunnel system, which means it takes ALL the water it gets and brings it to our water treatment facilities to be treated. Whenever it rains, all that water, alongside everything we use, goes to these facilities, where they’re completely overloaded. The newer system is better for these facilities. It uses a two-tunnel system, the tunnels separating rainwater from water discarded from our sinks and toilets. This makes it harder to overload our facilities, which is why two-tunnel systems are so important for our infrastructure. Unfortunately, two-tunnel systems only make up about half of our overall sewage system.

What are ways to help with this issue? Well, avoiding flushing the toilet and using your sink while it’s raining is certainly a start. But did you know our Green Infrastructure Project actually directly addresses this issue? Our project uses water resistant plants to help soak up more water when it rains, preventing among many things, erosion and water runoff. This helps take some of the strain off of our facilities!

So the next time you think of planting a garden, maybe go for more water resistant plants!

- Ellie, Jay, and Oli
Green Team Guides