New Generation of New York's Greenstreets Handle Stormwater and Calm Traffic

Every year, more than 27 billion gallons of contaminated water flows into New York City's rivers and bays because sewage treatment facilities can't handle excess stormwater.

"Called Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO), this toxic broth also contains chemicals leached from roofs and pavement. Until recently, there was no concerted effort to prevent it.

"One of the more unsung PlaNYC initiatives aims to drastically reduce CSO, in part by managing streets more wisely. Certain traffic calming measures, it turns out, can not only make streets more ped-friendly, but also help make the city's rivers clean enough to swim in. To accomplish this, PlaNYC calls for retooling the Parks Department's Greenstreets program, and we are starting to see the results."