»North Henry and Greenpoint Ave

imnotsayin has a useful summary of the Newtown Creek Water Pollution Control Plant's renovation. In light of what I learned while reading Elizabeth Royte’s Garbage Land last year, most of New York City's solid waste comes through the sewer system to these plants. The plants also separate and treat the waste that flows through the storm drains, except when the volume would overwhelm the treatment facilities: it then flows out into the Harlem River, the Long Island Sound, and the East River (I think), untreated. The solid waste, once separated from the fluid, becomes fertilizer for orange groves in Florida.

The summary's author posted some excellent photographs of the Newtown Creek facility. The photos show off the beautiful tiles, especially the dominant green, that drew my attention to the plant in the first place. My photographs did not come out with such clarity, alas!