New York City Completes Largest Ever Expansion of the Bluebelt System on Staten Island

On Aug. 16, 2017, New York City Department of Environmental Protection Acting Commissioner Vincent Sapienza and Department of Design and Construction Acting Commissioner Ana Barrio announced the completion of the largest ever expansion of the Staten Island Bluebelt system.

Previously, very few streets in this area were equipped with catch basins or storm sewers and roadway flooding often occurred during heavy rainstorms. The $48 million infrastructure upgrade included the following:

• The installation of 15,059 linear feet of new storm sewers, 197 catch basins and 133 manholes to better manage the precipitation that falls in the area and reduce localized flooding.
• The installation of 23,278 linear feet of new sanitary sewers that will allow 590 homes to connect to the New York City’s sewer system and discontinue the use of septic tanks.
• Upgrading the drinking water delivery system by replacing the old cast iron water mains with new ductile iron mains.
• The installation of 12,580 linear feet of 8 and 12-inch diameter distribution water mains to ensure a reliable supply of high quality drinking water for area residents and businesses.

The Bluebelt system on Staten Island has proven to effectively manage stormwater, reduce localized flooding and raise nearby property values,” said Sapienza. “Investing $48 million in the Woodrow area allowed us to extend sewers to nearly 600 homes in the area and allow them to discontinue the use of septic tanks, which will reduce headaches for those homeowners.”

The project, which was funded by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and managed by the Department of Design and Construction, began in the spring of 2014 and was completed ahead of schedule. The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) recognized the project with its Envision Silver Award, just the second New York City project to receive the award.

The ISI’s Envision Silver Award is granted when a project fosters a dramatic and necessary improvement in the sustainability performance and resiliency of infrastructure, and is issued as a result of an independent peer-review process conducted and overseen by the ISI. The evaluation assesses project performance across 60 sustainability criteria addressing a wide range of indicators including community, quality of life, management, planning, materials, energy, water, environmental impacts, emissions, and resilience.

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