City Doubles Size of Largest Green Infrastructure Program in Nation, Making NYC More Resilient to Global Warming
August 28, 2019
Specially designed curbside rain gardens will absorb millions of gallons of stormwater each time it rains, beautifying neighborhoods, improving the health of our waterways and making the city more resilient in the face of global warming
NEW YORK—Mayor de Blasio, DEP Commissioner Vincent Sapienza, partner agencies, elected officials, environmental advocates and community groups today announced a major expansion of New York City’s nationally recognized Green Infrastructure Program. The City has already begun construction of more than 5,000 specially designed curbside rain gardens in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, building upon the more than 4,000 rain gardens that have already been built. This construction will bring a total of more than 9,000 curbside rain gardens to New York City, helping to prevent flooding and reduce Combined Sewer Overflows into local waterways by more than 500 million gallons each year, thereby further improving the health of New York Harbor and its tributaries.