'Green' roofs seen as pollution help
NEW YORK (UPI) -- Green roofs, planted with vegetation, can be acost-effective way to keep water from running into sewer systems andcausing overflows, U.S. researchers say.
Scientists at Columbia University cite the Con Edison building in LongIsland City, Queens, whose green roof is home to 21,000 plants on aquarter acre that retain 30 percent of the rainwater that falls on theroof, a university release said last week.
The plants then release the water as vapor.
Scientists at Columbia's Center for Climate Systems Research estimateif New York City's 1 billion square feet of roofs were transformedinto green roofs, it would be possible to keep more than 10 billiongallons of water a year out of the city sewer system.
Like other older U.S. urban centers, New York has a combined sewersystem that carries both storm water and wastewater and often reachescapacity during rains and must discharge a mix of storm water andsewage into New York Harbor, the Hudson River, the East River andother waterways.
"The information we are collecting from Con Edison's roofs isinvaluable in helping us determine the costs and benefits of greeninfrastructure projects," Columbia research scientist Stuart Gaffinsaid.
Copyright 2011 by United Press International
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