This is both a pamphlet and a poster, unfold and discover!
catskills
Native Americans, known as the Lenape, once inhabited present day New York City. They maintained a balanced relationship with nature and saw water as the originator of life. Primarily hunters and gatherers, they depended on waterways for food and transportation. They drank fresh water from the rivers, and disposed of their waste by burying it in middens far away from water to prevent contamination. At that time, wetlands, marshlands, streams and ponds covered the earth, blending the lines between land and water. Water bodies also played an important role in political relations, defining borders between different tribes.
croton
delaware
TRANSFORMING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH WATER AND WASTE The modern urban water cycle has distanced us from water and waste while also separating them from one another. This pamphlet aims to reconnect these processes by creating a new consciousness and educational platform. New York is surrounded by water, yet most residents are unaware of where their water comes from or where their wastewater goes. This research and design proposal aims to make the relationship between citizen and water personal again, while unveiling the hidden connection between water and waste.
disinfection facility
residences
This pamphlet is an educational tool for anyone seeking to understand the ways in which water flows to and through the city, and how waste is a major part of this cycle. The ‘Info Toilet’ project is an urban intervention converting and implementing public compost toilets around the city that provides users with a new consciousness of water consumption and use while mitigating the effects of CSOs on NYC’s polluted waters. The Info Toilet is a way of making people aware of water and waste and connecting it to our everyday lives and actions while also advocating for better policies and implementation for a cleaner environment.
industries
RESEARCH & DESIGN BY Eduarda Aun Emily Sloss Nina van Wijk Selamawit Yemeru
FLUSHED OUT
This project is part of the Counter Narratives of the Brooklyn-Queens Waterfront collection, created for the Design and Urban Ecologies Program, Studio Spring 2017 at Parsons, The New School for Design.
The brooklyn queens connector:
A streetcar named Development
The Brooklyn - Queens Waterfront and the BQX
JASON AZAR GABRIELA LOPEZ DENA ANJELICA JACKSON BURAK SANCAKDAR PARSONS MS DESIGN AND URBAN ECOLOGIES
The proposed and mayoraly endorsed Brooklyn-Queens Connector streetcar threatens waterfront neighborhoods with displacement, gentrification, and homogeniety. But this is just one of the pressures facing warterfront communties. The rezoning of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, DUMBO, and Astoria that have changed the faces of the neighborhoods, and the dramatic rise in property values and rents now radiates into surrounding communities.Resiliancy measures passed by the city in the wake of Hurricane Sandy have been designed to increase waterfront cost of living and business ownership and to move land into the hands of luxury developers. The closing of the L-Train in 2018 will transform migration patterns into and within Brooklyn, and newcomers will be presented with waterfront neighborhoods like Sunset Park and Red Hook as more afforadble, but “up and coming” alternatives to Williamsburg. In Queens, massive apartment development in Long Island City and a proposed megaproject over the Sunnyside Railyards threaten the adjacent neighborhoods of Astoria and Jackson Heights. Examining these pressures through the lens of five characters that represent communities in Astoria, Williamsburg, Red Hook, Sunset Park, and a developer demonstrate how the policies touch the diverse communities along the waterfront.
New York real estate envisions a new landscape for the Brooklyn Queens Waterfront. Zoning, tax incentives, and even community visioning sessions are all city mechanisms that support this specific vision. This vision is driven by the prospect of accumulating capital and relies on the continued explotation of resources and displacement along the Brooklyn Queens waterfront. The language of deindustrialization, changing industries, and underutilization are used by developers and the city to create a ‘blank slate’ narrative - a space empty and waiting for development.
The Lenape arrive in present day NYC at the end of Ice Age
waste
fresh water brackish water
waste water treatment
But this simply isn’t true. There are thriving communities along the waterfront that have both a history of activism and current movements fighting gentrification and displacement.
cso
The following pages explore this real estate vision for the waterfront, its impacts, the systems that allow this kind of development to happen, and community-based couter-actions fighting against gentrification and displacement. The Brooklyn-Queens Waterfront is home to some of the last working industrial waterfronts in New York City. The histories of the different neighborhoods that line the waterfront are rich and varied, all involving the hard work of immigrants and communities of color. One development that is quickly gaining steam and taking shape is the Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX), a privately funded and publicized development to take place from Sunset Park to Astoria. This kind of development will be detrimental to the working and middle class living in close proximity to the proposed line. Take a look inside to see exactly why the BQX is a bad idea for the development of NYC.
Water was life-giving for the Lenape people, but it also betrayed them, bringing European settlers by ship and ushering in a new way of life. Despite attempts to coexist, most Lenape were eventually killed, enslaved or displaced by the colonists. The colonists’ relationship with water was very different since they saw themselves as separate from natural systems. They valued water for its ability to support trade, commerce, and aquaculture while populating the land with new settlements and cultivating farmland. Colonists acquired fresh water from wells and used rivers to dispose of waste, which caused pollution. Water played an important political role in solidifying British rule over the land. During a siege, Dutch colonists were convinced that the British would be unable to successfully settle the land due to the difficulty of accessing fresh water and easily surrendered and New Amsterdam became New York.
stormwater
waste
fresh water
waste
brackish water fresh water
stormwater
(10% total volume)
It is impossible to talk about the water supply system without talking about the wastewater system as well, but they are often conceived of as two very separate entities. Despite living in a city surrounded by water, the urban water cycle has been so disrupted and hidden that its origins, processes and outputs are unknown to residents. The city’s extreme care for its water supply system contradicts its blatant disregard for the waterbodies surrounding the city. A clean water supply is so important to the city that a dedicated police force with more than 200 members works around the clock to prevent illegal dumping and other misuses of the waterbodies. At the same time, NYC knowingly pollutes the water surrounding the city through its inadaquate wastewater treatment system. While land use and development are restricted in the upstate watershed, significant waterfront development along Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan coastlines are encouraged by city policy.
New York City UV Disinfection Facility
Clean Water BEcomes Waste Water NYC prides itself on having excellent drinking water, supplying 1.3 billion gallons of clean water per day to city residents. But what happens to all of that water once it has been used? Where does it go and in what condition?
Croton 1.3 Billion Gallons of Water Per Day Watershed
Hudson River
1524
First Dutch settlement
1609
Dutch purchase Manhattan from the Lenape people
1626
Ferry established between Brooklyn and Manhattan
1642
British conquer New Amsterdam
1664
Declaration of Independence
1776
New York serves as capital of the United States
1785
Creation of the State’s Health Office
1796
Commissioners Plan for New York City: proposed development north of Hudson St
1811
Flush toilet patended in Great Britain
1819
Erie Canal opens
1825
12 gallons per person per day
1832 NYC Board of Water Commissioners 1834 established by state legislature
waste waste
wastewater brackish water
stormwater
The Great Fire, trigger point for the demand for water
1835
Water piped from Croton Aqueduct to supply the city for the first time
1842
1858 American Civil War 1861
Central Park opens with reservoir potable water
New York State Metropolitan Health Act
1866
80 gallons
1890 Completion of New Croton River aqueduct 1893 Consolidation of New York City, 1898 Beginning of indoor plumbing
stormwater
saving Brooklyn from water crisis
1900
power plant
solid waste
JOB?
CLEAN WATER
NO DUMPING
wastewater treatment
effluent
fresh water combined sewer overflow
stormwater/Wastewater potable water
stormwater LUXURY CONDO's FOR SALE! MANHATTAN VIEWS hELP!
Tenement Housing Act
1901
Subway begins operating
1904
State gives NYC power to regulate upstate watershed land
1905
NY Stock Exchange crashes, beginning the Great Depression
1929
Coney Island Waste Water Treatment Plant built
1935
First Public Housing Projects in the Lower East Side’s waterfront
1939
Delaware Aqueduct is finished
1945
Delaware River system completed Northeast drought
1964
Solid Waste Disposal Act
1965
.......
1970 Clean Water Act 1972 Extension of Manhattan Shoreline 1972 Clean Air Act
110 gallons
150 gallons
180 gallons
for development of Battery Park City
wastewater treatment
1978 City begins charging for water use 1980
Discovery of oil spill in Greenpoint effluent combined sewer overflow
fresh water
stormwater/Wastewater potable water
Hud s o n R iver
Despite Hurricane Sandy’s warning call, new waterfront development has not slowed, but it has changed the City’s approach to planning and the language in PlaNYC, from “Greener, Greater NYC” to “Stronger, More Resilient NYC.” The City’s waterfront revitalization plans call for increased public access through new parks and water quality improvement measures, but prioritizes new luxury development over the best interest of longtime residents. For example, the proposed BQX trolley line’s financing structure is dependent on rising property values, which will inevitably cause displacement. Community residents and activists will continue to fight against powerful real estate interests in order to keep an affordable, accessible and environmentally just waterfront.
First European contact with NYC
Cholera epidemic
Hurricane Sandy
Present and Future
900
1800
Deindustrialization
Post-industrial waterfront redevelopment became a worldwide trend just after the turn of the century as developers saw an opportunity to capitalize on these neglected spaces. Large-scale, high-rise residential construction began to populate the waterfront, commodifying the views of Manhattan’s skyline. While environmental health improved relatively, climate change brought more intense and unpredictable weather events, including Hurricane Sandy which devastated NYC. Climate change leaves communities vulnerable not only to environmental dangers but also to disaster capitalism. Rising costs of flood insurance, expensive remediation of brownfield sites, and costly repairs from storms favor larger developers over individual property owners which leads to gentrification and displacement of longtime residents.
Crop cultivation and permanent settlements begin
1700
The Industrialization Revolution and increasing populations led to overcrowded tenements with poor living conditions and polluting industries concentrated along the waterfront. Without organized sewers or fresh water systems, disposal of waste was haphazard, creating a tangle of private sewer lines and no reliable source of clean water. This led to serious disease outbreaks as well as the Great Fire which caused insurance companies to go bankrupt and prompted the city to take the creation of a public water supply system seriously. Previous attempts by private companies to provide reliable water had failed, including the predecessor to JP Morgan Chase Bank. Formed under the pretenses of a water company, the main interest of Chase was to gain a bank charter. The City succeeded in creating the current day hydrant system fed by reservoirs upstate, which was its first public infrastructure project of such scale and relied on new funding systems, including water rents and taxes.
The fiscal crisis and suburbanization hit NYC hard, changing the nature of industry from relying on centralized shipping centers, to decentralized highway networks. As industry left the waterfront, it created space to put unsightly or unvalued facilities like power plants, wastewater treatment centers and NYCHA housing. More than one hundred years of industry left the waters in an environmental crisis including brownfields, oil spills, wildlife habitat destruction and unswimmable and unfishable waters. As the city turned its back to the waterfront, a new environmental consciousness simultaneously led to federal environmental regulations that would eventually help clean up polluted waterways.
8000 bc
1600
Sanitation and Public Health
Revealing Water, Connecting Waste
POLICY THROUGH PEOPLE
THe FiGHT AGAINST Real Estate Visions of the Brooklyn-Queens Waterfront
stormwater
Trade and Transport
Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) are responsible for dumping billions of gallons of untreated wastewater into our water bodies every year, creating toxic water quality conditions that are unswimmable and unfishable. With the reality of climate change and the threat of sea-level rise in the near future, it is critical that we understand water and our relationship to it in order to make informed decisions around future waterfront development plans.
a Contested Space
NYC’S WATER TIMELINE
Originator of Life
Watershed Agreement, urban-rural partnership between NYC and upstate communities to maintain water purity
1997 170 gallons
2000
stormwater
BQX
FERRY
effluent
fresh water combined sewer overflow
stormwater/Wastewater potable water
Newtown Creek and Gowanus Canal were listed as Superfund Sites on the National Priorities List.
2010
Vision 2020 New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan
2011
Hurricane Sandy hits New York City
2012
Old Domino Sugar Factory bought by real estate development company Two Trees Management
2013
PlaNYC: A Stronger, More Resilient New York
2014
Proposal of Brookyn - Queens Connector (BQX)
2016
2020
126 gallons
Delaware Watershed
Catskill Watershed
Water travels as far as 125 miles north and west of New York City through a vast network of resevoirs, tunnels, aqueducts, water treatment plants and pipes before coming out of your tap. It is the largest unfiltered water supply in the United States and operates almost entirely by gravity.
125 Miles
New York City owns or protects through conservation easements over 130,000 acres of land outside of the city limits as part of the water supply system. This land and water are fiercely protected to maintain their pristine conditions. Much of the watershed land and water is open to public recreational use like boating, fishing and hiking.
130,000 ACres
The 1972 Clean Water Act mandates that all waterbodies must be swimmable and fishable for all populations. Currently, NYC is in violation of this law and has several pending lawsuits for its failure to comply. While there are decades worth of toxic sediment at the bottom of former industrial sites like the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek, CSOs are largely responsible for the continued pollution of our rivers. All of the waterbodies shown on the map to the right have recommended use for secondary contact only, like boating. While fishing in these waters is technically allowed, everyone under 15 and women under 50 are advised to never eat these fish due to significant health risks.
Tier 3 CSO Tier 2 CSO
(50% total volume)
Superfund Site
Gowanus Canal
Of the 422 CSOs located around NYC’s coastline, most overflow about 50 times per year, with others overflowing as many as 70 times per year. Climate change and sea-level rise make CSOs an even more pressing issue.
CSO EVent occurs once a week As little as 1/10 inch of rain in one hour or 4/10 inch of rain over the course of a day can cause a CSO event. Given the city’s abundance of concrete surfaces and lack of permeable ones, rather than being absorbed by grass and soil, stormwater ends up in the pipes shared with the sewage system.
1/10 Inch of Rain in 1 Hour 70% of NYC’s sewage system is combined, meaining stormwater and wastewater share the same pipes. During heavy rainfall and snowmelt, combined sewers receive higher than normal volumes which treatment plants are unable to handle. This causes excess stormwater and untreated wastewater to discharge directly into the city’s waterbodies, which is called a combined sewer overflow (CSO).
Water In WaSTE Out
Historic Streams
Tier 1 CSO
Clean Water Act: Swimmable & Fishable CSO: Combined Sewer Overflow
Historic Marshland
(20% total volume)
Wastewater Treatment Plant
Modern Coastline Historic Coastline LEGEND
Newtown Creek
combined sewer lines
extinct wetlands
old infrastructre
use of potable water for toilets
impermeable surfaces
lack of awarness
increased precipitation
sea level rise
water in waste out
every time it rains, stormwater brings trash from the streets, like bottles, plastic bags and chemicals, into our combined sewer pipes. during heavy rain, these pipes, that also carry household and human waste, overflow into our rivers. This is called combined sewer overflow, or CSO.
where does it come from? where does it go?
CSO causes
CSo's are currently the main polluter of our water bodies. many strategies can reduce cso's, such as separating the pipes, or reducing stormwater volume entering sewer pipes, like using compost toilets.
cso'S combined sewer overflows, Primary source of water pollution
STATE
POWER TO IMPLEMENT
website updates
signage at cso locations
"green infrastructure"
waterfront parks
"grey infrastructure"
interventions
expanded wastewater treatment facilities restoration of natural areas
separation of stormwater and sewer lines
REGULAR TOILET COMPOST TOILET
CLEANING
PREVENTING
cso storange tanks
restoration of natural areas
CONNECTING
ADVOCATING
Green Buffers
Billion Oyster Project
Community Gardens
Bioremediation
Habitat Restoration
BRIDGING and potentializing existing efforts REDUCING
Citizen Water Monitoring Compost Toilets
EDUCATING
1/10 inch
regular toilets use on average 3.6 gallons per flush, while composting toilets only use 3 ounces
of rain is enough for combined sewer overlfow
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS KNOWLEDGE TO SHARE
IMPLEMENTATION The Info Toilet is a design intervention that combines technical solutions with attitude change and personal reconnection with water. The Info Toilet is a public bathroom that uses compost toilets instead of conventional toilets which use potable water to flush. This saves water and creates valuable compost which can be used for landscaping.
Implementation of the Info Toilet consists of several stages, relying on community organizations and residents to advocate and act from the bottom-up, while also depending on city support and policy to create broader impact.
THE INFO TOiLET
The primary aim of the Info Toilet is to change the relationships of users with water by educating them about the water cycle and sewer system and how they are connected. This poster, shown on the right, uses clear visuals and language to explain complicated concepts such as combined sewer overflow. The Info Toilet will provide users with ideas on what they can do in their daily lives to relieve the pressure on NYC’s water system.
Step 1 is to identify locations in New York City that already have compost bathrooms, as well as existing conventional public restrooms that could be converting in the future (see map). The existing compost bathrooms will be the basis for the pilot project which consists of distributing pamphlets and posters to the bathrooms, conducting interviews with implementers and users, and calculating annual water savings. Interviews with those responsible for the installation and maintenance of the bathrooms will discuss best practices, barriers and public perception of the bathrooms which will inform the creation of a how-to guide for other spaces and organizations interesting in installing compost toilets.
expansion a green roof creates more permeable surface
IS THE SINGLE LARGEST WATER USEr
stormwater can't pass through sidewalks and streets, so it ends up in the sewer system
Plants are irrigated with wastewater from the sink
rflow e v o r e w e s d mbine
the poster and pamphlet are clearly visible
creating awareness
CONVENTIONAL TOILETS The Parks Department maintains over 600 public restrooms throughout the five boroughs, providing an opportunity for future compost toilet installation.
80 pounds
co
The primary goal of the Info Toilet is to educate its users by demonstrating how waste and water are inextricably link, and expose the enormous environmental and health impacts combined sewer overflows have on the city. This new consciousness will encourage residents to reevaluate their relationship with water, waste and the environment, and change their individual actions as well as advocate for better city policy and implementation to protect our water bodies. The information provided in the pamphlet and on the posters in public bathrooms might motivate the user to not to laundry on rainy days, or to pick up that empty water bottle that is about to end up in the stormwater drain. Awareness is the first step towards a clean New York, in which citizens realize they can make a difference by advocating for a healthy environment every day.
destigmatizing waste Over the past two centuries we have become increasingly disconnected from the way our waste and wastewater are processed and disposed. The construction of an extensive sewer network is essential to public health, but it has also put an enormous stigma on the daily human actions that we feel uncomfortable about, particularly using the toilet. The widespread use and availability of public compost toilet aims to demystify and destigmatize our natural actions, that we have actively tried to hide and dispose of with enormous amounts of potable water. By making the topic approachable, users will feel more comfortable sharing their newfound knowledge with others, and will be open towards the use of compost toilets, which is a very stigmatized object in itself.
positive environmental impacts In addition to being an educational tool, compost toilets are water and waste savers. Each toilet transforms human waste into valuable nutrients for plants, producing 80 pounds of compost annually. This natural fertilizer reduces the use of artificial fertilizers. Nutrients are returned to the soil in a closed cycle, instead of ending up in our wastewater treatment system and ultimately our water bodies. The Info Toilet will use the compost on surrounding gardens, which will also contribute to creating more permeable surfaces aiding in the absorption of stormwater and reducing CSO events. Flushing conventional toilets is the single largest user of potable water, which is transformed into wastewater. Compost toilets use 99% less potable water than regular toilets, meaning that reducing the amount of water used for flushing toilets has an enormous impact on potable water consumption, wastewater treatment facilities and CSOs.
of compost produced per toilet annually which can be used for landscaping
(CSO)
OUTCOMES Four public composting toilets already exist around the city.
stormwater is absorbed by soil and grass, returning to the natural water cycle
combined sewer system
Prospect Park WellHouse
COMPOSTING TOILETS
less water used per flush
potable water
Queens Botanic Garden
Hollenback Community Garden
99%
Step 2 is working with community groups and city organizations, like community gardens, environmental education spaces and the Parks Department to choose compost toilets like the Info Toilet when installing new public restrooms. The diagram on the right shows what the Info Toilet would look like. The bathroom would have compost toilets with the poster and other educational materials hanging on every stall door. Inside and outside the bathroom pamphlets are provided for visitors to read or take with them. The final step of the strategy is advocating for public policy that ensures that all new public bathrooms will be compost bathrooms while also transforming existing public bathrooms by installing compost toilets and the other proposed design interventions. This citywide policy change will create a network of green bathrooms, which will result in more awareness amongst citizens, a greener city and reduced CSOs.
Bronx Zoo
toilet flushing
wastewater tr
27 bil
reducing water consumption is both an individual responsibility and a collective effort. the city is proposing various strategies to clean up our rivers, and it is up to you to vote, advocate and hold officials accountable to ensure healthy, fishable and swimmable waters for generations to come.
eatment plan
t
gallons of raw sewage end up in NYC's rivers every year
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
avoid unnecessary water use on rainy days
sink wastewater is re-used for irrigation
take shorter showers
turn off water whilst brushing your teeth
collect rainwater
spread the word!