WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 – WPA Architecture found in unlikely place
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
OUR 152nd ISSUE
OF
FROM THE ARCHIVES
BOWERY BAY WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT
Bowery Bay Sewage Treatment Works, copy of drawing “Pump and Blower House”
Bowery Bay Sewage Treatment Works, south face of grit storage building Left: under construction, Right: rendering of completed structure
The Wastewater Treatment Plant is located on what was Luyster’s Island
Untapped Cities reader @moment_NY submitted a photo via Twitter, asking us “Do you know the history of this wall art at 45th St & Berrian Blvd, Queens?” A little digging revealed that this is part of the Bowery Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant, across from Rikers Island. The WPA-style sculptural relief dates back to the original Art Deco building that was part of the Department of Public Works, and you can see the 1940 cornerstone on the right hand side. Elsewhere on the building, you’ll see the glass blocks and curved walls that are characteristic of the public architecture of the time period.
Although the building’s decoration was clearly intended for public as a message of the government’s good works, today the building is fenced off and this grand entrance unused. As such, the building directly encapsulates the evolution of the public’s relationship with government architecture from the Great Depression until now. Another fun note, from Forgotten NY, is that the whole treatment plant sits atop the former Luyster’s Island, another sign of the advance of New York City’s shoreline.
WHAT HAPPENS AT
BOWERY BAY
Completion of $3 Million Upgrade to the Bowery Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant Significantly Reduces Nuisance Odors in Astoria
2016
Newly Installed Aluminum Tank Covers and Carbon Filtration System Capture 99% of Odors
New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Acting Commissioner Steven Lawitts today joined with City Council Member Costa Constantinides to announce that work has been completed on the installation of aluminum covers and odor control units on each of the four sludge tanks located at the Bowery Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant in Astoria, Queens. The $3 million project ensures that nuisance odors emanating from the wastewater treatment plant are captured by the new aluminum covers and removed through an activated carbon filtration process. Work on the project began in 2015 and was completed by Memorial Day.
“Wastewater treatment is a vital process that safeguards the environment and protects public health, and we also work hard to ensure that we are good neighbors to those who live and work in the neighborhoods that surround our plants,” said DEP Acting Commissioner Steven Lawitts. “The completed odor control upgrades at the Bowery Bay facility will directly benefit the residents of northern Queens and I want to thank Council Member Costa Constantinides for the time, energy and efforts he and his staff devoted to partnering with DEP on addressing this important environmental concern.”
Council Member Costa Constantinides, Chair of the Council’s Environmental Protection Committee, said, “As lifetime residents of the neighborhood, my family and I have too much experience with the odor from the Bowery Bay Plant. The new aluminum tank covers and odor control units will help improve the quality of life for all families in the area. Eliminating most of the odor that comes from the plant is a major benefit for our community. I thank DEP for partnering together with us on this $3 million upgrade project and working to complete it on time.”
New Yorkers produce, and DEP collects and treats, approximately 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater a day. Many of the City’s 14 wastewater treatment plants are located in residential or business communities across the five boroughs and DEP works to limit their impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. At the Bowery Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant, there are four holding tanks that have the capacity to store a combined 550,000 cubic feet of sludge. The aluminum covers, which are up to 85 feet wide, capture any nuisance odor and each dual-bed carbon canister filter cleanses up to 21,742 cubic feet of air per minute. The carbon filters capture and absorb the odorous hydrogen sulfide gas molecules produced during the wastewater treatment and sludge digestion process. The City College of New York will work with DEP to document the performance of the carbon filters.
The Bowery Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant went into operation in 1939 and is designed to treat 150 million gallons of wastewater a day. The plant serves approximately 850,000 residents in a drainage area of more than 15,000 acres in northwest Queens.
DEP manages New York City’s water supply, providing approximately one billion gallons of water each day to more than 9 million residents, including 8.5 million in New York City. The water is delivered from a watershed that extends more than 125 miles from the city, comprising 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes. Approximately 7,000 miles of water mains, tunnels and aqueducts bring water to homes and businesses throughout the five boroughs, and 7,500 miles of sewer lines and 96 pump stations take wastewater to 14 in-city treatment plants. DEP has nearly 6,000 employees, including almost 1,000 in the upstate watershed. In addition, DEP has a robust capital program, with a planned $14 billion in investments over the next 10 years that will create up to 3,000 construction-related jobs per year. For more information, visit nyc.gov/dep, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
THIS IS THE PERMIT FROM NYS DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION”
The NYCDEP Bowery Bay WPCP is a municipal wastewater treatment facility capable of providing secondary treatment to 225 mgd of primarily residential wastewater in Northwestern Queens. The major unit operations of the facility consist of screening, primary treatment, activated-sludge treatment, secondary clarification, sludge treatment, and disinfection of the plant effluent before discharge to the Rikers Island Channel. Solids handling at the plant include cyclone degritting of the primary sludge, gravity thickening of the primary and secondary high-rate anaerobic digestion, and sludge storage and dewatering. The Bowery Bay WPCP operates combustion installations, three methane-abatement systems, three wet scrubbers for the Dewatering building odor-control system, and two dual-system units with two wet scrubbers and carbon adsorption for the centrate odor-control system. In addition, in order to eliminate potential odor from the wastewater treatment process, DEP has upgraded sludge storage tanks #1, #4, #9 and #10 with Facility DEC ID: 2630100008 DEC Permit Conditions Renewal 1/Mod 1/FINAL Page 2 aluminum covers and installed four carbon vessels to treat air emissions from these four tanks. By acceptance of this permit, the permittee agrees that the permit is contingent upon strict compliance with the ECL, all applicable regulations, the General Conditions specified.
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EDITORIAL
We don’t think of wastewater or other unmentionables. This is the Pump and Blower House and the Grit Storage Building. Even these mundane projects were beautifully designed and have been preserved for over 75 years.
JUDITH BERDY
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Text by Judith Berdy
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Edited by Deborah Dorff
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