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$50M southeast Queens sewage project completed, mayor says
By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Mar 9, 2022
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By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Mar 9, 2022
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Mayor Eric Adams announced the completion of a nearly $50 million sewage and water main overhaul in southeast Queens, Wednesday afternoon. The construction was aimed at alleviating flooding that’s consistently walloped the area for years.
The Department of Environmental Protection project brings six miles of new sewers and water mains to the neighborhood of Rochdale, officials said.
"When you look up and see rain clouds, things are going to be ok," said Adams, who grew up in the area, which is largely home to Black working- and middle-class residents. He was flanked by New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (no relation), who also grew up in the neighborhood.
“Here I am, almost 50 years later, not coming here as merely a resident, but as the mayor of the City of New York, finally dealing with the issues that have impacted communities like this for so long,” Mayor Adams said of the project, which began and was largely completed during former Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration.
“You should not have to cross your fingers and hope you don’t have human waste that has overflooded in your basement," the new mayor added.
The project included 5,535 feet of new storm sewers and 55 new catch basins, among other upgrades, officials said. Adams also announced a joint initiative with Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County to demolish or rehab 13 vacant city-owned buildings in the neighborhood, converting them into 16 new eco-friendly homes. The new houses will be set aside for low- and moderate-income families.
William West, a 40-year resident of the neighborhood, greeted the announcement with relief.
“Yeh! Big deal, you don’t know,” he said. “We thank God. No anxiety. No fear. No property loss.”
He added, “Now when the rainstorms are predicted, we are not worried about sludge coming up in our basement sinks.”
The latest DEP project is part of an ongoing $2.5 billion southeast Queens Initiative that de Blasio began in 2018, to improve drainage systems across the area. Certain parts of Queens have suffered from flooding for decades.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Ida in early September wreaked further havoc, submerging basements with multiple feet of murky sewage waters. Its toll was the worst in Queens, where 11 people died in the storm, most of whom were trapped in their basements.
Following the storm, de Blasio laid out a plan to prevent such a calamity from happening in the future, as tropical storms are expected to worsen as the climate warms.
While the plan floated many long-term solutions it also promised to immediately activate community based organizations to help canvass basement dwellers and use them to go door to door if the threat of severe flooding arose. NY1 reported last month that the fate of those plans remains up in the air under the new Adams administration.
A spokesperson for the mayor didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Clarification: This story has been updated to include the full name of the Habitat for Humanity chapter involved in the project.
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queens
eric adams
flooding
Gwynne Hogan
Gwynne Hogan is a former Gothamist reporter.
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