7. Stormwater Infrastructure in Freshkills Park Takes Rain Elsewhere
Image courtesy The City of New York and Freshkills Park
Another bit of infrastructural geekery: when rainwater falls on Freshkills Park’s hills, it’s collected through a network of swales, channels, and downchutes, then sent to detention basins at the bottom of the hills.
This system ensures that water doesn’t destabilize or erode the layers of soil that make up the landfill cover. Since this engineering was installed, the quiet waters of the detention basins have become freshwater ecosystems that serve as a habitat for a variety of wildlife, including painted turtles.