Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
cled glass and urethane was applied in several sections by a crew working with it for
the first time. In subsequent months, the material spalled or shed loose glass for a va-
riety of reasons. Fortunately, the technology improved and it was reinstalled and
agreed to redo it. The original wave design was finally executed with glass trucked
from Albany, NY, well within the five-hundred-mile requirement for Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. A new method of tinting
the urethane allows for more uniform color control and actually improves the reflec-
tive qualities that contribute to less carbon dioxide absorption.
The final piece of the puzzle has not been easy to implement. Water-quality test-
ing is integral to gauging the success of the stormwater remediation. Prior to con-
struction, the DEC Shellfish Unit tested two locations in southern Mattituck Creek
and will continue to test after significant storms. Their samples are collected within
twenty-four hours of the rain event and test for fecal coliform only. At this point, it is
too early to expect much improvement. Lorne Broussard, water quality expert from
Cornell University, and John Bredemeyer, Suffolk County Health, concluded that
the boat-ramp area is too diffuse for effective testing. Subsequent designs with a
budget for stormwater-in/filtered-water-out testing will result in more accurate data.
The WATERWASH™ ABC on the Bronx River and subsequent grants are structured
to include this type of monitoring.
The opening press event on November 9, 2009, attended by more than seventy
people, was a satisfying finale to the saga. Public officials applauded the progressive
nature of WATERWASH™ and asked if we would work on several other very difficult
sites. Interest remains high, but the cost-benefit questions we answered from visitors
on-site still continue long after completion. I realize the actual investment in time
and energy means future sites must be carefully chosen. So many of the predicaments
we are asked to look at arise from unsuccessful previous attempts, engineering miscal-
culations, or landscaping that masks real problems. Final impacts cannot be assessed
without considering cultural relationships or until ecological processes are truly
embraced.
How can we possibly measure a place's value to the inhabitants inspired by it?
When I watch the schoolchildren reading the WATERWASH signs, or see a boat re-
turning with happy fisherfolk, or catch kayakers lunching on the benches adapted
from Aldo Leopold's plans, I see the landscape in action. There, between form and
function, lies an opportunity for artist and scientist alike to involve the community in
restoring natural resources. For more information , see www.waterwash.info.
Postscript
The reality is that many artists are uniquely prepared to follow through in the face of
adversity. Given their sensitive position as cultural innovators, artists have the right
personality type for facing complex challenges, not to mention their ability to think
creatively outside the box. Without an artistic blend of tenacity and mental agility, I
wonder how anything can be accomplished when working in the web of bureaucracy
that surrounds green infrastructure and public restoration projects.
