New York City encourages green roofs

Green roofs are a big part of NYC Green Infrastructure, a new plan that aims to reduce New York City’s combined sewer overflows by 40 percent.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled the plan at P.S. 118 in Queens, where a green roof was installed as part of a demonstration pilot.

 

“Protecting water quality by investing in green infrastructure makes both fiscal and environmental sense,” said David Bragdon, director of Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. “This innovative approach captures stormwater runoff and also achieves other important objectives such as cleaner air, enhanced open space, and reduced vulnerability to climate change. It’s all part of the Mayor’s Sustainable Stormwater Management Plan and PlaNYC: building a greener, greater New York.”

 

Examples of green infrastructure projects include: blue roofs and green roofs; porous pavement for parking lots ; tree pits and streetside swales for roadways that allow water to pool in underground holding areas until it can dissipate in the ground or transpire through plants; wetlands and swales for parks; and rain barrels in some residential areas.