Brown is about 10 dumpster load of sewage poop that gets deposited by CSO BB-006 every year CSO BB-006 (based on 2011 bathymetry for 4 to 6 feet deep mudflats) - about 16.8 acres or 85,000 cubic yards of this will be WORST dredged by NYCDEP OFFENDER TI-011 1434 million HISTORICAL WETLANDS & gallons of raw ROUGH HISTORICAL STREAM sewage per BB-08 year PATTERNS – NOW BURIED
BB-08 PRIORITY GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE HISTORICAL ACTION AREA FLUSHING Red = poten ally unmapped MEADOWS wetlands for restora on studies TIDAL SALT TI-010 MARSH
IRELAND CREEK
KISSENA CREEK
FLUSHING CREEK WEST BRANCH SEWAGE FOR FLUSHING BAY AREA HANDLED BY 2 SEWAGE PLANTS BOWERY BAY (BB) TO WEST BB-06 PRIORITY TALLMANN ISLAND (TI) TO EAST GREEN (Flushing Bay receives sewage from as far INFRASTRUCTURE away as Douglaston via system of pumps) ACTION AREA TI-014 THE CSO CSO TI-011 PROBLEM: 272 million gallons WHAT CAUSED
IT ? MASSIVE TI-012 LANDFILLING
CSO BB-007 3.4 million gallons CSO TI-022 30 million gallons Pier One
CSO BB-008 534 million gallons
CSO BB-006 WORST OFFENDER 1434 million gallons of raw sewage per year. This is about 5.5% of all sewage going CSO TI-010 into harbor 743 million gallons (built 1938)
STREAM ONE HOW DOES FLUSHING MEADOWS HYDROLOGY WORK ? Blue dashes show general historical runoff pa erns STREAMS DIVERTED FROM SALT MEADOWS NOW GO INTO SEWER OVERFLOW INSTEAD 1934, 16 May - Mountains of ash, used to fill the Flushing Meadows marshland, future site of the 1964 World Fair. Drain pipes are being laid to drain dal and spring fed streams 1934 – 11 March, Construc on of Grand Central Parkway across Flushing Creek and the Flushing Meadows dal marshes BURIED STREAM
1924 Fairchild Aerial with new rail line allowing landfilling of Flushing Meadows with coal ash. Marsh streams would be diverted into new sewer pipes (causing sewer overflows into bay when it rains)
“This is a valley of ashes - a fantas c farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air”
The Great Gatsby, the Valley of Ashes, Pg. 26, Chapter 2, F. Sco Fitzgerald, 1925 Study Project: balloon map edges of now landfilled historical marshes to see if marine Spar na grass health varia ons marsh should make mouth of Flushing Creek priority zone for new wetlands restora ons for CSO- Historical BB06 dredging shoreline was landfilled by mi ga on highway +/- 1600 feet BB-06 Poten al wetland restora on site ? Dredging Site
BB-06 Spar na marsh
1858 United States Geological Survey by Hassler & Rockwell showing the original Flushing Bay shoreline Spar na dal marshes Circa 2010 – Ghost of old Flushing Creek meander that is s ll visible in discolored grass behind New York Hall of Science (this was Ba le Scene site for the movie “Men in Black”) These are Queens Neighborhoods The New York City Department of Environmental Protec on has priori zed for 2012 onwards for ge ng storm water out of the combined sewer pipes
272 mgy or 9.3 gallons per 2 534 million gallons of sewage per year 10.3 gallons per 2 1434 mgy
Not sure why they are ignoring TI-010 which WORST NEIGHBORHOOD is 743 million gallons 12.3 gallons per year of sewage overflows of sewage per year from every square foot of land
WHERE SHOULD WE PRIORITIZE COMMUNITY SEWER OVERFLOW REDUCTION PROJECTS ? (RAIN BARRELS, RAIN GARDENS, STREET CREEKS, ENHANCED TREE PITS, ETC) FLUSHING BAY GETS AROUND Paler water is from eutrophica on from about 10 dumpster load of sewage poop that gets deposited every year by the 3 BILLION GALLONS OF SEWAGE PER BB-006 and BB-08 combined sewer overflow . The sewage YEAR nutrients cause eutrophica on (the milky color) and affect fish survival by lowering oxygen levels. High synthe c estrogen levels (from human birth control pills), heavy metals and oils are other pollutant problems affec ng local ecology survival and health.
PROPOSED CIRCA 2015 DREDGING & WETLAND RESTORATION AREA – WETLANDS PLANNED TO BE 2 FT HIGHER THAN NORMAL TO ACCOMMODATE SEA LEVEL RISE
PIER ONE
CSO BB-008
CSO BB-006 WORST OFFENDER 1434 million gallons of raw sewage per year 1901 USGS Map showing original extent of the Flushing Meadows dal marshes and historic streams
Rough study notes prepared by Eymund Diegel to discuss Flushing Bay water quality and historical change issues [email protected] March 2014