Doubling Down on Rain Gardens
We recently joined Mayor de Blasio, partner agencies, elected officials, environmental advocates and community groups to announce the ongoing major expansion of New York City’s nationally recognized Green Infrastructure Program.
The City has already begun construction of more than 5,000 specially designed curbside rain gardens in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, building upon the more than 4,000 rain gardens that have already been built. This construction will bring a total of more than 9,000 curbside rain gardens to New York City, helping to prevent flooding and reduce Combined Sewer Overflows into local waterways by more than 500 MILLION gallons each year, thereby further improving the health of New York Harbor and its tributaries.
More than 70 percent of New York City’s land mass is covered by an impervious surface, which creates tremendous volumes of stormwater entering the sewer system during rainstorms. Rain gardens help to soften the city’s landscape and allow the stormwater to be naturally absorbed into the ground, therefore reducing flooding that can impact roadways, homes and businesses. By keeping stormwater out of the City’s combined sewer system, where it can contribute to combined sewer overflows into local waterways, the rain gardens serve as a tool in the City’s ongoing effort to improve the health of local waterways.
In addition, some of the neighborhoods getting these rain gardens currently have less than average tree counts and higher than average rates of asthma among young people. The increased tree canopy and vegetation created through the addition of the rain gardens will help to improve air quality, provide shade during hot summer months, and beautify the neighborhoods.
New York City is a national leader in protecting the environment and at the forefront of this work is the largest and most aggressive green infrastructure program in the country. New York Harbor is cleaner today than it has been since the Civil War and expanding our use of green infrastructure will help us continue to improve the health of all the city’s waterways.
