How does the New York sewage system work?

New York is the largest city in the US and the world’s center of finance, commerce and entertainment. The metropolis wastewater system is huge, as it includes 14 sewage treatment plants and more than 7,000 miles of pipes. Of course, that was not always the case. In the 19th century, New Yorkers suffered from epidemics and a terrible smell on the city streets due to the lack of sewage. At that time, almost all sewage from city buildings was drained into bodies of water. The city authorities had to do a lot of work and cope with various challenges over the years to establish a sewerage system in a city with a multi-million population. Learn more at new-york.name.

History of the New York sewage

The New York sewage system appeared in the middle of the 19th century when the first 60 miles of sewers were laid. They drained sewage into the Hudson waters and the East River. The first three sewage treatment plants were built in New York in the 1890s, which also discharged toxic waste into local bodies of water. Then water waste from industrial enterprises was added to the sewers and the situation became critical. New York harbor water became too poisonous for any living creatures. However, the city authorities did not solve that problem at all for a long time. Only in 1904, the NYC Water Board was established and it proposed to develop a plan for a centralized sewerage system and treatment facilities.

Between 1935 and 1945, three new sewage treatment plants were built in various  New York boroughs. In 1946, there were already six of them throughout the metropolis and they treated more than 5.2 million US gal of sewage per day. By the end of the 1960s, the population of New York was about 8 million people, so the city authorities began to reconstruct and modernize sewage treatment plants actively. At that time, 11 plants were already operating in the metropolis and about 1.3 billion US gal of wastewater was being treated daily. The New York plants treated approximately 65% of all pollutants in the sewage.

In 1972, the United States passed the Clean Water Act, which defined basic wastewater drainage standards. According to this law, all sewage treatment plants should be equipped for secondary wastewater treatment. At the end of the 20th century, there were 14 powerful sewage treatment plants in New York owing to which all the metropolis wastewater can undergo complete treatment.

How does the New York sewage treatment system work?

All New Yorkers receive about a billion US gal of clean water every day and more than 10 million people use the city’s water supply system. New York’s sewerage is divided into combined and separate sewer systems. The treatment plant’s load increases from 30% to 50% in case of floods in the boroughs with combined sewers. New York City’s water supply and sewerage systems are constantly heavily loaded, but according to the municipal services, citizens can help the system work more efficiently.

New Yorkers should use household water resources sparingly, dispose of waste and household chemicals properly and take care of the water condition to reduce the load on the water supply system, sewage and treatment plants.

The operation and maintenance of the metropolis wastewater treatment plants are handled by the Department of Environmental Protection and the Bureau of Wastewater Treatment, which employs almost 2,000 people. The annual budget of the Bureau is $200 million.

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