Water pollution created from storm water drainage has been a century-old and ongoing problem with Newtown Creek in Maspeth, but it might finally be getting some real attention.
The city says it has spent $10 billion in the last 15 years to improve water quality in New York City, but clearly little of that money has been spent on the eastern end of Newtown Creek.
The combined sewer system under the streets in Maspeth mixes storm water with solid waste from toilets. During periods of heavy rain the sewers become overburdened, and the mix of waste and water runs into Newtown Creek like a waterfall.
If one were to actually get into a boat and take a trip to the eastern parts of the creek, you would see the combined sewer outlets that drain directly into the waterway.
The waste isn’t treated, and the result is years of waste collecting in the shallow creek, killing any marine life and creating a foul smell.
It’s taken DEP until now to figure out that Newtown Creek, the longest creek in the city and one of the most polluted bodies of water in the city, should have gotten attention decades ago.
In recent years, the city has devised “band-aid” solutions to the problem. Aeration activity blows bubbles into the water to put oxygen into the creek, and new bioswales above ground aim to collect rainwater before it goes into the sewers.
But it’s not difficult to conclude that no matter what is done in the short term, without a long-term fix a good rain will still produce a mix of toilet waste and storm water that will drain into the creek.
Forced to Act Now
In 2015, the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued some robust requirements and obligations to the city to reduce the pollutants that discharge into the water system.
A system called MS4 separates the waste and sends it to a treatment plant before entering the sewers. A conservative estimate is that it will take six years for the water flowing from drains into Newtown Creek to be free of solid waste, and only then can we begin to address the negative effects that decades of inaction have caused.
Newtown Creek NYC Progress Report 6-22-2016 by BQEmedia on Scribd
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