NYC Green Infrastructure in 2021
We’re excited to present to the the 2020 Green Infrastructure Annual Report, which provides an update on the NYC Green Infrastructure (GI) Program, including achievements and advancements through 2020, and outlines what is in store for 2021. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, we still had a tremendous year in 2020, with more than 3,000 rain gardens constructed, continued construction on schoolyard retrofits, and designs advanced on over a hundred public properties.
While our primary goal is to reduce combined sewer overflows (CSO) into New York Harbor in a cost-effective way, our GI projects also provide community and environmental benefits. These “co-benefits” include increased urban greening, urban heat island reduction, and more native habitat for birds and pollinators around the city.
We’ve successfully installed and continue to install thousands of rain gardens and other GI practices in our combined sewer areas, and thousands more green infrastructure practices are in the planning and design phases. We’re on track to achieve more than 500 million gallons of annual CSO reduction and 1,188 greened acres at the end of 2021!
Looking ahead to 2021, we have various initiatives planned including construction of GI on public properties, launch of the new private property retrofit incentive program, promulgation of the new Unified Stormwater Rule and finalization of design of our first area-wide porous pavement project.
Learn more at nyc.gov/dep/greeninfrastructure.
