The giant “digester eggs” at the Newtown Creek Water Treatment Plant. Photo via Kai Tsurumaki
On Thursday, January 29th, my group and I went to the Newtown Creek Water Treatment Plant. We went with Hillary Meltzer to the plant where we were greeted by our tour guide. The tour guide brought us into the “lobby” of the Water Treatment Plant, where there was many posters containing information, for example, there was one entitled “what else can we do to improve water quality?” and another with information about wastewater after treatment. There were also a few dioramas of the plant and a cross section of the water system in a house.
The tour guide then led us up a flight of stairs and into a large room filled with chairs and a slideshow projected up front. Our guide stood at a podium near the projection and began the presentation. During this we gained a lot of interesting information. For example, among other things, we learned that the DEP supplies 1 billion gallons of fresh water a day, we learned that the DEP has 19 reservoirs, but only uses the newer ones, and we learned that there are 6,800 miles of water mains throughout 3 tunnels, the first of which was built in 1917. Also throughout the presentation there were many interesting maps, such as a map of NYC’s Water Supply System and that of the three tunnels under the city. There were also many intriguing diagrams, such as one of a the tunnel system under the street and one of the Primary Treatment of the water being treated goes through, which removes sludge, grit, and scum. After this presentation the tour guide showed a smaller one about green infrastructure, a set of techniques that prevents stormwater from entering the combined sewer system by slowing down or absorbing water. Some examples of this are Greenstreets, which are plant beds with places for stormwater to run into, Green Roofs, which are small “gardens” on top of roofs, and Rain Gardens, little pool / garden decorations that fill up when it rains.
After this she gave us a behind the scenes look at the boiler room and control room, which was fascinating. The boiler room had many large metal machines which took the methane gas produced by the “digester eggs” and turned it into heat to run the plant. In the control room there was large machines that had many features I did not at all understand from the short glimpse we got. The tour guide then took us out of the building and showed us around the ground for a short period of time. After this we bid farewell and left.
