More cities are returning waterways to a more natural state—in some cases unearthing them from subterranean pipes in a process known as "daylighting." A new example can be found, perhaps surprisingly, in New York City.
According to an article by Winnie Hu and James Thomas, there is "an enormous trove of water hidden below [New York City's] streets and high-rise buildings — hundreds of subterranean streams, creeks and springs that were buried long ago and all but forgotten as the city grew."
Among that trove is Tibbetts Brook, which is the main subject of the article because of an ambitious plan to unearth, or "daylight," the creek to improve the local stormwater infrastructure.
"The city plans to unearth the brook — an engineering feat known as 'daylighting' — at a cost of more than $130 million, because burying it in the sewer system has worsened the city’s flooding problems as a warming planet experiences more frequent and intense storms," according to Hu and Thomas.
The remnants of Hurricane Ida recently overwhelmed Tibbetts Brook in its current, subterranean form, sending water flooding into the city and inundating the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx.
According to the article, "daylighting" is reversing an earlier era's approach to stormwater infrastructure in more and more locations around the world—though New York City might be an unexpected place to see nature being restored, to a certain extent.
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research