NYC touts porous pavement installations to mitigate flooding
NEW YORK -- It might not look like much if you are driving by, but the city's Department of Environmental Protection says a narrow stretch of porous pavement on 37th Street and 12th Avenue in Borough Park, Brooklyn can make a big difference to prevent flooding.
"A lot of our thinking has been about how do we divert rainwater away from sewers. And we've been working on this, in fact, for well over a decade," DEP Commissioner Rohit T. Aggarwala said Monday.
Officials demonstrated how the slabs of roadway can absorb water during heavy rainfall, allowing it to drain through, reducing pressure on the sewers and preventing clogs and backups.
"Roadways, as you know, are built with a crown. This area in the middle where we're standing is higher. So we don't need porous pavement everywhere. We need it on the sides because the water will naturally drain to the side and that's where it'll sink in," Aggarwala said.
"The sewer on the corner was always backing up, and the neighbors experienced flooding," said Joseph Stern, who owns a rug and carpet warehouse across the street from the new pavement.
The pavement is coming to several parts of Brooklyn
The city plans to install pavement like this in other areas, including Borough Park, Sunset Park and Kensington. However, officials say it can't go everywhere because of things like varying soil conditions and major underground infrastructure. There are other limitations, too, DEP estimates the pavement will need to be cleaned twice a year to keep debris out of the pores and maintain its functionality.
Still, officials say it's another tool in the growing toolbox to deal with today's climate challenges.
"Our modeling shows that this porous pavement will keep 35 million gallons of storm water out of the sewers each year, which, again, frees up capacity for other rainwater in that major storm helps mitigate flooding and keeps our harbor as clean as it can be," Aggarwala said.
It's the first large-scale implementation of this anywhere in the city, with the installation of seven miles of this pavement in Brooklyn.
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