Flash Flood Warning in the Bronx
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In NYC flooding is very dependent on drainage and it is different block by block. If you have been around long enough you know where there will be five hour floods.
What if we could use all of this water? It's a blessing to have so much fresh water in our city but by not managing it well it becomes a problem.
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It's a relatively very small amount but if your building has outdoor space, the DEP has done a few rain barrel giveaways:
DEP Distributes More Than 7,600 Free Rain Barrels to New York City Residents
60-gallon rain barrels capture stormwater, preventing it from entering sewer system - alleviating flooding and sewer backups
The official website of the City of New York (www.nyc.gov)
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I'm thinking about how to collect street runoff and it seems like treatment is necessary before use. Maybe the easiest is with solar stills.
You use it to water plants-- which also cools the air. Or use it to wash the sidewalks in the morning which everyone loves to do with *drinking water* which always strikes me as extravagant beyond all reason. Especially when the water quality is so high from the taps.
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In NYC flooding is very dependent on drainage and it is different block by block. If you have been around long enough you know where there will be five hour floods.
What if we could use all of this water? It's a blessing to have so much fresh water in our city but by not managing it well it becomes a problem.
Before this little tidal estuary and collection of islands carved by clear running brooks was a massive city it was prime farming land, and before that it was a hunting ground that people came to every summer for the fresh muscles and fish, the deer and wild mushrooms.
NYC is built on a border-line temperate rainforest. We get a lot of rain and have a lot of rivers of every size, and the bounty of the sea as well.
We have wealth that we ignore.
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Before this little tidal estuary and collection of islands carved by clear running brooks was a massive city it was prime farming land, and before that it was a hunting ground that people came to every summer for the fresh muscles and fish, the deer and wild mushrooms.
NYC is built on a border-line temperate rainforest. We get a lot of rain and have a lot of rivers of every size, and the bounty of the sea as well.
We have wealth that we ignore.
@futurebird @ai6yr yeah imagine if the city had effective rainwater capture and storage?
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@futurebird @ai6yr yeah imagine if the city had effective rainwater capture and storage?
NYC is so water-rich we are lazy about it. This really needs to stop. I hope that the floods are a wake up call. We didn't use to have floods every summer but they will probably only get worse.
But this is a much better problem to have than not enough water.
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You use it to water plants-- which also cools the air. Or use it to wash the sidewalks in the morning which everyone loves to do with *drinking water* which always strikes me as extravagant beyond all reason. Especially when the water quality is so high from the taps.
@futurebird @drdrowland @ai6yr
All of this applies to Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area too. Goddamn.
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@futurebird @drdrowland @ai6yr
All of this applies to Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area too. Goddamn.
@angelastella @drdrowland @ai6yr
Do they wash the sidewalks too?
I understand why they do it, people walk their dogs, and sidewalks can be gross, so every super is out there at 6am spraying the sidewalk... but that ought to be rain barrel water not drinking water!
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@angelastella @drdrowland @ai6yr
Do they wash the sidewalks too?
I understand why they do it, people walk their dogs, and sidewalks can be gross, so every super is out there at 6am spraying the sidewalk... but that ought to be rain barrel water not drinking water!
@futurebird @drdrowland @ai6yr
Yes, daily if they can. With drinking water. No rainwater collection. Waste of energy (60% from fossil fuel IIRC).
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@futurebird @drdrowland @ai6yr
All of this applies to Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area too. Goddamn.
@angelastella @futurebird @drdrowland @ai6yr
some years ago I read a book about the paving over of the streams of London. I can't remember what it was called, sadly.
Years before that, I read a Harn World module for book-and-paper role playing games that was all about paved over streams hidden the big cities of Harn World. Which inspired some bits in the homebrew D&D world I ran, though for some reason Harn didn't have any were crocodiles in the paved over streams. I sure did.
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@futurebird @drdrowland @ai6yr
Yes, daily if they can. With drinking water. No rainwater collection. Waste of energy (60% from fossil fuel IIRC).
@angelastella @drdrowland @ai6yr
OK now I'm imaging some fiction story where it turns out that the urge to wash the sidewalks everyday is really a kind of libation or worship for the lost buried rivers. People have this feeling that they should bring them back... so they open a hydrant in the summer, set up sprinklers.
Or hose off the sidewalk each day without fail.
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@angelastella @drdrowland @ai6yr
OK now I'm imaging some fiction story where it turns out that the urge to wash the sidewalks everyday is really a kind of libation or worship for the lost buried rivers. People have this feeling that they should bring them back... so they open a hydrant in the summer, set up sprinklers.
Or hose off the sidewalk each day without fail.
@futurebird @angelastella @drdrowland @ai6yr
I already got bit with Adrian Tschakovski, but have you read rivers of London? -
@angelastella @drdrowland @ai6yr
OK now I'm imaging some fiction story where it turns out that the urge to wash the sidewalks everyday is really a kind of libation or worship for the lost buried rivers. People have this feeling that they should bring them back... so they open a hydrant in the summer, set up sprinklers.
Or hose off the sidewalk each day without fail.
@futurebird @angelastella @drdrowland @ai6yr
the hydrant: a rant, but with water
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@futurebird @angelastella @drdrowland @ai6yr
I already got bit with Adrian Tschakovski, but have you read rivers of London?@econads @angelastella @drdrowland @ai6yr
I haven't read it but I probably should.
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@angelastella @futurebird @drdrowland @ai6yr
some years ago I read a book about the paving over of the streams of London. I can't remember what it was called, sadly.
Years before that, I read a Harn World module for book-and-paper role playing games that was all about paved over streams hidden the big cities of Harn World. Which inspired some bits in the homebrew D&D world I ran, though for some reason Harn didn't have any were crocodiles in the paved over streams. I sure did.
@llewelly @futurebird @drdrowland @ai6yr
You're seriously tempting me. The biggest environmental sin down here has been paving over the rivers and streams of our cities. And we have paid for it with blood. The stories practically write themselves.
