Rockaway Rain Reuse System

We will tackle issues surrounding storm water management in New York through maximizing the potential uses of water by designing and constructing water catchments system. Through designing the system we will also simultaneously be minimizing the disadvantages posed by poor water management practices including street flooding, non-point source contamination of Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, and increased energy and necessity for water treatment plants which further contaminate New York's fragile aquatic ecosystems. Through addressing improved water management practices we will not only help to directly minimize our contributions to water contamination but also help to create a thriving community space that helps to improve the quality of experiences in the garden. The garden will be able to better produce healthy local foods that can be enjoyed; furthering help to reduce carbon emissions by growing carbon absorbing plants and also reducing the impact on New York City's water filtration plants and already stressed filtration stations.

Our project will work toward making the community garden independent of New York City's infrastructural water delivery systems by strategically taking advantage of the water that is naturally provided. In this manner lessening and possibly eliminating our contribution to the increasingly growing water contamination of New York's water bodies which especially plagues Rockaway due to the infrastructural development of combined sewage systems in the local area. Our project will certainly not solve the problem entirely, but will instead help to set a positive example and prove that manageable steps can be taken that will cumulatively address water management. We will help to show that micro scale developments can be effectively implemented by community members across all boroughs, thus aiding in the elimination of seemingly minor arterial water contributions that have accrued into multi million dollar problems. March – Education and Planning Session. April – Refine Design and Collect Materials. June – Construct Water Catchment System

On the peninsula of Rockaway water is never an issue. However, it is one of the biggest issues, especially when it comes to storm water management practices. We are seeking to start a rain water catchment system to provide local community gardeners with a sustainable alternative; limiting the impact on both city and environmental resources.