By TARYN LUNTZ of Greenwire
Published: December 24, 2009
....The New York City, for example, which averages an overflow a week, a rainy day means 500 million gallons of filthy discharges pouring into waterways, according to nonprofit watchdog group Riverkeeper. That foul brew contaminates drinking water, forces beach closures and pollutes shellfish beds.
Most cities are working with U.S. EPA to curb overflows as part of a mandate to cleanse waters to federal standards.
But the traditional options are expensive. Philadelphia, for one, found it would need to build a $10 billion sewage tunnel under the Delaware River to solve its overflow problem the standard way -- with so-called "gray" infrastructure.
So the city is proposing an alternate solution: Invest $1.6 billion to turn a third of the city green in the next 20 years. The plan involves replacing streets, parking lots and sidewalks with water-absorbing porous pavement, street-edge gardens and trees.
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