By Bill Parry
City officials joined City Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) at Raimonda Playground in Astoria to announce that water-saving automatic shut-off timers and activation buttons have been installed on 400 spray showers at city playgrounds.
The goal is to conserve water by ensuring that showers are activated only when in use. The $3 million initiative, funded by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection and jointly managed through a partnership with NYC Parks, was completed on time and is part of a larger citywide effort to reduce water consumption by 5 percent.
“This initiative to upgrade 400 spray showers in playgrounds, citywide, will save water and mitigate flooding, while giving children the opportunity to cool off in the summer heat,” Constantinides said. “As we work to combat climate change, we must build sustainable habits to reduce waste. Conserving water and adding capacity in our sewer systems will help us meet these goals.”
Without timers and activation buttons, playground showers used nearly 5,600 gallons of water per day. Timers could reduce that consumption by 50 percent, or nearly 2,800 gallons per day.
“The installation of these timers across New York City have already reduced the amount of runoff that enters our sewers and are saving over a million gallons of water per day,” NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver said.
The city has made great strides in water conservation in recent years with overall water use declining from over 1.5 billion gallons per day to roughly 1 billion gallons, currently. The city’s population grew from just over 7.1 million to 8.5 million in the same time period.
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
