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Dive Brief:
- New York City is investing $68 million to build Brooklyn’s first Bluebelt system, which uses nature-based solutions to reduce flash flooding, in Prospect Park. New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced last week.
- The plan calls for improving Prospect Park Lake’s drainage infrastructure to reduce water levels in less than 36 hours and building new ponds and rain gardens to collect rainwater.
- Average annual precipitation in New York City is projected to increase by up to 14% by the 2050s and 22% by the 2080s, and the number of extreme rain events is expected to increase, according to a New York City. Climate Change Assessment Panel.
Diving knowledge:
extreme rainfall has increased about 60% since the 1950s in New York City and throughout the Northeast, according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment. Adams said in a statement that the Bluebelt will provide a solution to “better manage heavy rainfall”.
Two slow moving storms poured in July torrential rain in the cityprovoking evacuations and traffic and road closures. On October 30 another record storm wreaked further havoc and resulted in two deaths. A spokesman for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement the october storm “continues the recent pattern of short but very intense rains that have become increasingly common in recent years.”
The Prospect Park Bluebelt is the result of a year-long DEP study of flooding in the Brooklyn communities surrounding the park and how stormwater moves through the park. During heavy storms, rainwater often pours onto the ground instead of into the 60-acre lake, causing flooding, the study found. In addition, the lake’s limited ability to absorb floodwaters can cause overflows and strain on the sewer system.
DEP, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and the Prospect Park Alliance will collaborate on improving the lake’s drainage infrastructure, building a new pond and a continuous stretch of rain gardens that will slow and filter stormwater as it flows into the lake, and restoring a pond that was filled north of the Prospect Park Zoo to collect stormwater from Flat Avenue.
The project aims to supplement the $20 million Lakeshore restoration planwhich will rebuild the Prospect Park Lakefront with green infrastructure for stormwater management.
New York City Parks Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa said in a statement that public parks can be used as “natural infrastructure that makes our city more resilient.”
“By using Prospect Park to manage stormwater, we are turning one of Brooklyn’s most cherished public spaces into a powerful tool for climate resilience,” DEP Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala said in a statement.
New York’s first Bluebelt system was completed in Staten Island in 2023. According to a news release, the $110 million project naturally drains and filters stormwater in catch basins and storm sewers before it is discharged into lower New York Bay.
Nature-based solutions that use “green and blue infrastructure” such as trees, lawns and ponds are on average 50% more cost-effective and provide 28% more added value than engineered solutions, according to the World Economic Forum.
Cities that use wetlands and rain gardens to absorb water and prevent runoff, a concept known as “sponge cities,” are gaining traction as a response to urban flooding. Atlantic International University Reports.
