S.W.I.M. Coalition
Storm Water Infrastructure Matters is a coalition dedicated to ensuring swimmable waters around New York City through natural, sustainable storm water management practices in our neighborhoods. This approach is environmentally and fiscally responsible because it utilizes storm water, currently viewed as waste, as a resource.
Maps (select: all / none)
Maps created by S.W.I.M. Coalition:
Newtown Creek has 23 Combined Sewer Overflow outfalls along its shores. Some of them are very large, some of them are relatively inactive, some of them are visible and accessible and others are hidden under bridges, behind private lots or under the water line. Members of the S.W.I.M. Coalition and Newtown Creek Alliance are doing their darnedest to locate them all and photograph the conditions at each outfall, especially during wet weather. We know its gross, but somebody's gotta look. If you would like to contribute to this map in a coordinated fashion, please drop us a line through our profile here or at swimmablenyc@gmail.com
Sewage Treatment Facilities - NYC
Every day, nine million New Yorkers discharge 1.5 billion gallons of liquid waste into their sewer system. Underground and out of sight their urine, feces, and food scraps combine with litter and pollution from the streets and toxic waste dumped by regulated city businesses. This nasty brew then navigates the 6,000 miles of pipes, 135,000 catch basins, and 93 pumping stations of the wastewater treatment network towards two possible futures: decontamination at one of 14 treatment plants or discharge into New York Harbor via one of 494 combined sewer overflow outfalls
Tier 1 Combined Sewer Overflow Outfalls - NYC
When sewage loads exceed the capacity of the City's sewage treatment facilities urine, feces, trash, petroleum products and other nasties are expelled, untreated, into New York Harbor via 494 combined sewer overflow outfalls aka CSOs. Just 15 of these 494 outfalls, identified as Tier 1, are responsible for spurting out over half the City's raw sewage. A sewage overflow can be triggered by as little as a tenth of an inch of rain, which essentially means that every time it rains, your toilet flushes directly into New York Harbor. In New York City a CSO event occurs once a week on average. CSOs are the single largest impairment to the quality of New York City's waters.
S.W.I.M. Coalition's Shared Maps:
Bronx River CSO Outfalls by Dawn Henning
Location of combined sewer outfalls discharging to the Bronx River.
Combined Sewer Overflow Outfalls - NYC by katezidar
Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) is that frothy mix of sewage and polluted stormwater that is released after wet weather in cities with combined sewer systems. Combined sewers collect both sanitary sewage (poop) and runoff from roofs and roads (stormwater). During wet weather, the sewer is filled to capacity and additional untreated CSO is discharged into the nearest waterbody. When this occurs, it is called a "CSO event". In NYC, CSO events occur on average 72 times a year (almost every time it rains) and they are responsible for the annual release of over 27 BILLION gallons of polluted wastewater. This map will add the locations of these outfalls, starting with those along Newtown Creek, one of the nation's most polluted waterways located at almost the geographic center of NYC.
Sewagesheds - NYC by HabitatMap
Each of the City's 14 sewage treatment facilities services a specific area of the city. These areas are known as sewagesheds. By identifying which sewageshed you live in, you can determine where your toilet flushes to.
Action Alert Network
S.W.I.M. Coalition has no action alert members.
Neighborhood:
New York City
Name:
Storm Water Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.) Coalition
Website:
swimmablenyc.info/
Member since:
10/19/2009