BY Rich Bockmann
A newly completed sewer facility in Bayside will keep the water in northeast Queens cleaner and its streets dryer.
Last week, the commissioner of the city Department of Environmental Protection announced the completion of the Alley Creek Combined Sewer Overflow Facility, which will reduce the amount of pollutants discharged into Alley Creek and Little Neck Bay.
“The completion of the Alley Creek CSO Facility is a major step forward in our efforts to improve harbor water quality, especially in northeast Queens,” DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway wrote in a statement.
The city’s waste and stormwater systems are integrated with one another, and when heavy rains push the system beyond capacity, it has to discharge the mix, which can be detrimental to the flora and fauna that populate the waterways.
When the two concrete barrels of the new retention facility overflow during large storm events, the adjacent storage tanks have the capacity to store up to 5 million gallons. According to the DEP, this decreases the overall volume of combined overflows discharged into Alley Creek by about 54 percent each year.
The DEP also rehabilitated the Old Douglaston Pump Station, which now has the capacity to pump more than 80 million gallons of wastewater a day from the Alley Creek CSO to the Tallman Island Wastewater Treatment Plant for treatment and disinfection.
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and City Councilmen Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) and Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) all released statements praising the project and its effects on the environment.
“It is great news that the retention facility project, which started when I was the area councilman, is completed,” wrote Avella. “I want to congratulate DEP for their hard work in conducting this massive project that will certainly eliminate wastewater runoff, enhance the experience of Alley Pond Park for residents of northeast Queens and will help to relieve the reoccurring flooding problems that have plagued the area for years.”
As part of the project, the DEP installed several storm drains that reduce the flooding issues along the Cross Island Parkway at the Northern Boulevard interchange.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
