1. Describe the evolution of NYC's sewage system. What were some of the challenges that the city faced in its development of a waste removal system? What are some challenges that still remain?
As time went on, the sewage system or treatment, of New York City, changed. Some of the ways in which it has changed is that before there practically was no sewage system. People, back then would just dump their waste into the ground and then that would affect all of the water inside the ground and everything. Then as time went on the city noticed that the people there were getting diseases, such as cholera (a terrible disease that causes diarrhea and killed thousands of people), so they started to build new filtration systems. it has developed and changed so much today that we have ways to filter and clean our water underground and we have clean water that is easily accessible to us.
As New York City started to develop a waste removal system it faced some problems. One of these included that they might have not realized, but as the population grew there was about 1.3 billion gallons of sewage to take care of, per day. This is a huge number, even though it might have increased by now and this number might be pretty recent, there was still a huge quantity of sewage that needed to be cleaned. I think that another problem that they faced is that as they dumped their waste into the oceans, harbors, and rivers, they started to kill many of the ecosystems that lived there. Now obviously they didn't mean to do this, but it means that they had to find a was to fix it.
I think that some of the problems that New York City is still facing with it's sewage treatment are much, much fewer then the amount in the past. I think that the main problem that New York City has not solved, which is going on in other 800 countries in the world, is that the pipes are not different for the storm runoff and for the sewage treatment. This is a problem because if there is a huge rain storm, like there was a few days ago, the water will be too much for the plant treatment to hold and then will eventually just go straight into the river. Even though the river has surprisingly gotten cleaner, it is still dirty and it is not right for us to pollute it.
2. What positive impacts does the NYC sanitation system have on the bodies of water surrounding the city? What threats does the sanitation system pose to the surrounding waters?
New York City's sanitation system is an amazing system that allows us to have clean water and not make us worry about anything in the water. This is a very good thing for us, as humans, as we live here, but what about the bodies of water around us? Is there any effect on them? In fact there is both a positive and a negative side that NYC's sanitation system has on the bodies of water around us. One of the main positive impacts that our sanitation system has on the bodies of water around us, is that since we care so much about having clean drinking water that we will make sure that there is nothing in the water that could possible get to us, through any possible way. This helps the bodies of water and of land because we don't let any pollution get into them so they are clean and as decades have past we have seen that some of the marine animals, that were not seen in the rivers, have come back. Some of these include sea turtles, striped bass, bluefish, and American shad.
Even though there might be some positive effects to having a good sanitation system there are also some negative parts to it. Some of the negative effect that NYC's sanitation system has on the bodies of water around us is that even though some organisms are coming back, others are in danger. Most of these ecosystems are the ones that live at the bottom of the harbor floor. These ecosystems lack oxygen and can have major heat. Another negative thing is that mechanical breakdowns can occur, even though very rare. This is a major problem because too much water can get out into the harbor or the wrong amount of something. This seldom happens, it can cause great damage to our harbor and life in the ocean.
3. In clear steps with many details, describe the life of your poop after you flush.
Everyone goes to the bathroom and everyone flushes the toilet. If you calculate that there are 8 million people, just in manhattan, then you will realize that that is a lot of feces to take care of. Even though there is so much, we have to do something about it. The feces can not just sit there, in fact every time you flush your toilet your feces is embarking an epic adventure to a mysterious place. Every time that you flush your toilet your feces is carried down a drain to a pipe called the lateral. Then once in lateral your feces is carried to the submain, which then goes to the "interceptor", then it goes to the treatment plant.
Once at the treatment plant the feces will go through many steps. First it will pass through bars even though there is barely no need, since it has no objects like newspaper and bottles. Then the feces is divided, with other water and compounds, depending on the density. Then it goes to another container, where air is added so that further organic remains can be destroyed. In the next tank the water is chlorinated and then sent to an oxygen free tank at 95 degrees to make sure that all organic materials are gone.
If you do not live in the city and live on the outer boroughs, then you might have a sort of private sewage treatment plan. Your water is sent to a tank either made up of concrete, steel, or fiberglass. These tanks hold vast amounts of waste water, including water form sinks, toilets, and showers. In the tank, the water is attacked by bacteria that will break down the organic material. New water will push out the water that is already there. The water that gets pushed out will go to a drain field, made up of perfurated pipes in the ground. Then the large amount of water is absorbed and filtered into the ground.