Manholes, Catch Basins, and Outdoor Seating

Like all New Yorkers, we are EAGER and READY to see our beloved restaurants reopen! As we navigate this new normal, and restaurants start to expand their spaces outdoors, there are two pieces of critical infrastructure we’d like to point out:

Left: An NYC manhole cover; Right: An NYC street drain or "catch basin" as we like to call it.

If you’ve not noticed already, manholes and catch basins (you might call them street or storm drains) are EVERYWHERE. In fact, NYC has about 148,000 catch basins…

We maintain these critical pieces of infrastructure and need to access them from time to time. To minimize any potential disruptions, we recommend that restaurants avoid putting structures (especially ones that can’t be rearranged in a pinch) over them.

In the case of catch basins, it’s especially important to give them their space, as they will be there to collect all that stormwater on those rainy summer days:

For more reopening guidelines, be sure to check out these resources:

Guidance for Returning Building Water Systems to Service After Prolonged Shutdown

Open Restaurants

COVID-19: Guidance for Businesses - NYC Health