Upcoming Events:
Saturday, March 19, 2016
, 9 AM to 12 PM, NRPA Spring cleanup at Bard Ave Bluestreet, meet at the Citgo Sta-
tion at Richmond Terrace and Bard Ave., gloves, bags, refreshments provided, Community Service hours certified, Info
Jim 718-987-6037, Tony Rose 917-604-5581
Saturday, April 2, 2016
, 10 AM to 1 PM, cleanup the dunes at New Dorp with Friends of Kivlehan Park, meet at
Cedar Grove Ave and Central Place, gloves, bags, refreshments provided, Info Maxine Wilde 904-415-3849
Sunday, April 3, 2016
1 PM to 4 PM, Protectors of Pine Oak Woods 40
th
Anniversary Celebration at Conference House
Park, Hylan Blvd at Saterlee Place, An exhibit of Protectors achievements and ongoing work, Info Cliff Hagen 718-313-
8591
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
7:30 PM, NRPA monthly meeting at Blue Heron Park Nature Center, Poillon Ave., Info Richie
Chan 347-866-0208
Join NRPA today
AMAZON SMILE
By Richie Chan
Do you shop on Amazon? How
about signing up for Amazon Smile?
No cost to you and all purchases
under Amazon Smile can qualify for
a 0.5% donation of your purchase to
the Natural Resources Protective
Association. Each time you sign in,
click on the Amazon Smile icon in
the upper right hand corner and then
start shopping. Great way to help us
out at no cost to you, so thank you in
advance!
We are always looking for people
to come to the monthly meetings
and bring us ideas and
suggestions for future activity.
All are welcome!
MEETING SCHEDULE ON THE
1
st
TUESDAY
OF THE MONTH
Meetings held at the Nature
Center at Blue Heron Park
January 5, 2016
February 2, 2016
March 1, 2016
April 5, 2016
May 3, 2016
June 7, 2016
July 5, 2016
August 2, 2016
September 6, 2016
October 4, 2016
November 1, 2016
December 6, 2016
Hurricane Sandy. Parks has applied
to NY State DEC to reinforce the
beach with rip-rap and other
measures, in an effort to make the
parcel more resilient.
Time and
tides, will tell.
The ride along Edgewater Street is
an interesting juxtaposition of water
dependent businesses like the
Sandy Hook Pilots Association, old
factories, including Richmond Coun-
ty Ice Company (ice was cut and
harvested from Clove Lakes) storage
for old buses, a power generation
plant with mega-turbines, townhous-
es, hills and Edgewater Plaza itself
( a business park and NYPD vehicle
storage facility).
Next up was the shoreline north of
the Clifton Staten Island Rail Road
station.
The current shore is a
shambles, the area is leased out for
tractor- trailer and box truck parking.
The trouble is that illegal dumping
occurs on a regular basis and no
one seems to care. Based on what I
saw, there is enough trash to fill two
thirty cubic yard containers.
The wild life here is mostly herring
gulls, the occasional harbor seal,
Canada geese, boulders covered
with bladder wrack and rock crabs
under the shoreline stones. Also, I
found a Native American ironstone
'paint pot’, partially buried in the
sand.
Our shorelines need the advocacy
of Natural Resources Protective
Association, please join and re-
new your membership today.
Thank you!
Page 5
Spring 2016
NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
(continued next page)
COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW
By Jim Scarcella
Perhaps the major scourge of our
harbor estuary is Combined Sewer
Overflow (CSO), which occur during
rain events when the volume of rain
water is greater than one quarter
inch. Many areas of NYC have an-
cient, outdated, water and sewage
piping, resulting in a pathogenic stew
being released in our waters. The
various sewer sheds include Jamai-
ca Bay, Red Hook, South Brooklyn,
Flushing Bay, Harlem River and
Gowanus Canal.
On Staten Island, the sewer shed
includes Arrochar, Rosebank, Clif-
ton, Tompkinsville, West Brighton,
Elm Park and Port Richmond, where
the Wastewater Treatment Control
Plant is located.
The NYC DEP is required by NYS
DEC to bring discharges into compli-
ance under the Clean Water Act.
Over 45 million gallons of storm wa-
ter mixed with sewage is released
during 70 events per year. These
small municipal separate storm wa-
ter systems (MS 4’s) are required to
have a storm water management
system. They receive a permit I and
must come up with a plan to reduce
impacts
DEP has made some improve-
ments, including a 10 million gallons
retention tank for Paerdagat Basin
in Brooklyn, but many watersheds
still suffer from CSO damage.
DEP is required to be in compliance
under Long Term Control Plans
(LTCP), using Green Infrastructure,
but full cooperation and compliance
is 25 years away. This is wholly
unacceptable!
We are thankful for Riverkeeper and
SWIM coalition which keeps us in-
formed of public meetings. We will
send alerts for the next meeting in
July 2016.
