The waterways are polluted

Environmental disasters like the 1950 Exxon oil spill in Greenpoint and GE’s release of PCBs into the Hudson from the 1940s through the ’70s have done no small damage to our waterways, but one of the biggest threats to the city’s bodies of H2O doesn’t come from corporations—it comes from nature. Every time it rains heavily, the area’s sewage-treatment facilities—including those in Coney Island, Red Hook and Jamaica Bay—overflow, accounting for 27 billion gallons of untreated runoff entering our rivers, bays and canals each year.

Duh. “Don’t litter on the street,” says Basil Seggos, chief investigator of clean-water advocacy group Riverkeeper (riverkeeper.org). Due to NYC’s frequent sewage-facility overflows, which number about 70 a year, he says, “Whatever gets thrown on the street winds up in the New York waterways. It may turn up miles away, but it’s there.” Properly disposing of electronics, batteries and CFL lightbulbs at city-run collection centers (nyc.gov/nycwasteless) will help keep heavy metals out of the water, too.

Get on the water regularly, and you’ll be inspired to maintain it. The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club (gowanuscanal.org) is offering free canoeing in South Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal on Saturday 19 from 1 to 5pm (see the club’s online calendar for dates through October 18). After rowing the inlet, participants collect trash along the shoreline. Gloves and bags are provided; galoshes are recommended. Red Hook Boaters (redhookboaters.org) and Long Island City Community Boathouse (licboathouse.org) conduct similar free boat rides and shore cleanups around Upper New York Bay and the East River, respectively.

In the past, city initiatives have been aimed at expanding facilities to treat sewage faster, but recently, organizations like Riverkeeper and Storm Water Infrastructure Matters (SWIM) (bronxriver.org/swimmableNYC.cfm) have advocated for another solution: Since each urban tree can capture and retain more than 1,525 gallons a year, let’s reduce the amount of rain headed into New York’s sewers by increasing green spaces. Through the mayor’s MillionTreesNYC campaign (milliontreesnyc.org), citizens can learn how to plant and tend greenery on public and private property, as well as enroll in a program to become “stewards” for city trees.

—Andrew Frisicano

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