![\"Parkland](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/53349046656_565d834057_k.jpg\")
Fall foliage at Seton Falls Park in the Bronx. Tuesday, November 21, 2023. (Benny Polatseck\/Mayoral Photography Office)<\/p>\nThe report is the first to quantify the stormwater capture capacity of the city\u2019s forests, wetlands, and grasslands\u2014helping prevent untreated sewage from overflowing into local waterways.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fall foliage at Seton Falls Park in the Bronx. Tuesday, November 21, 2023. (Benny Polatseck\/Mayoral Photography Office)<\/p>\n
When it rains, New York City\u2019s natural areas\u2014made up of forests, wetlands, and grasslands\u2014play a crucial role in keeping sewers from overflowing by soaking up 17 percent of the city\u2019s stormwater, a new report<\/a> by the Natural Areas Conservancy (NAC) finds.<\/p>\n The report reveals that this natural landscape, which makes up a third<\/a> of the Big Apple\u2019s more than 30,000 acres of parkland, soaks up twice the amount of storm water on a per unit basis when compared to other forms of green infrastructure like rain gardens.<\/p>\n Using a model that relies on high-resolution spatial data, the report is the first to quantify the stormwater capture capacity of the city\u2019s natural areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n The data shows that healthy forested areas absorb almost 10 percent more stormwater than degraded forests. It makes a case for the city to invest more funds in keeping New York City\u2019s forests\u2014like Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx or the Greenbelt in Staten Island\u2014alive and thriving.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cInvesting in our forested areas is a really economical way of making sure we have increased stormwater capture capacity,\u201d said Jeffrey Clark, senior manager of applied research at the NAC and author of the study.<\/p>\n These ecosystems save the city an estimated $760 million annually in stormwater treatment costs, the report notes, urging the city to look more to its trees to provide relief to the overburdened stormwater management system.<\/p>\n The city currently relies mostly on sewers, drainage pipes, and catch basins to manage its stormwater. This is problematic because these systems have limited capacity, in terms of how much water they can handle\u2014about 1.75 inches of rain in one hour, according to the report.<\/p>\n Climate change is driving increasingly wetter weather: the city saw 2.07 inches <\/a>in a single hour earlier this summer during a storm that caused flash floods and paralyzed the transit system. Hurricane Ida, which killed 13 people in 2021, saw a record-setting\u00a0 3.15 inches.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n What\u2019s more, 60 percent of the city\u2019s aging sewer pipes, sections of which date back to 1855, are part of a combined sewer overflow system that fills up beyond capacity during a rainstorm and ends up dumping untreated sewage into nearby waterways.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs of 2024, maintaining the sewer system costs the city approximately $1.4 billion [annually], with individual metered households paying a minimum of $1.27 a day in sewer and water fees or $0.01 per gallon,\u201d the report notes.<\/p>\n In contrast, the city needs $380 million over the course of 25 years to keep its natural areas alive and well, making for a \u201cmore cost effective\u201d way to treat storm water, Clark says.<\/p>\n \u201cIts not an insignificant amount of money, but it\u2019s also fairly trivial when you compare it to the cost of some of the other fiscal budget items,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd because we are not actively always measuring some of the services that these natural areas are providing to the city, they are often undervalued. And when they are undervalued, they become underfunded,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The Big Apple\u2019s Department of Parks and Recreation is tasked with keeping the city\u2019s fauna and flora alive and well, but there is currently no permanent budget dedicated solely to maintaining the city\u2019s forests, wetlands, and grasslands.<\/p>\n The budget adopted for the 2026 fiscal year includes $3 million in temporary funding for natural areas, according to Emily Walker, senior manager of external affairs at NAC. This will allow the designated natural areas division within the Parks Department, known as the Natural Resources Group, to bring on 35 staff members.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Walker says 51 critical forest management positions were lost<\/a> in the previous year\u2019s budget, prompting advocates to fight for more permanent funding, saying a \u201cone shot\u201d allocation just isn\u2019t enough and needs to be permanent.<\/p>\n The Parks Department, however, has historically been underfunded. For the past 30 years, the agency has received between 0.5 and 0.6 percent<\/a> of the city\u2019s total budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n In line with this trend, New York City set aside 0.6 percent of its $115.9 billion budget<\/a> for Parks this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Mayor Eric Adams was running for office he promised <\/a>to dedicate 1 percent of the city\u2019s total budget to parks, but he is yet to make due on that commitment.<\/p>\n And now that NAC\u2019s report produced evidence for the first time that the Parks Department\u2019s natural areas are a key to keeping storm water runoff out of sewer systems\u2014and waterways\u2014and off of the streets, the stakes are even higher, the group argues.\u00a0<\/p>\n While neither the Mayor\u2019s Office nor the Parks Department responded to a request for comment, a City Halls spokesperson told City Limits<\/a> earlier this summer that the administration has \u201cmade major investments to improve our parks and public amenities.\u201d That includes \u201cincreasing the Parks budget and headcount to their highest level, as we aim to reach the 1 percent target.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But Council members like Shekar Krishnan, who is the chair of the Committee on Parks and Recreations, says the city needs to work harder to secure continued funding for the department.\u00a0<\/p>\n At a City Council hearing when budget discussions wrapped in May<\/a>, he promised that the Council \u201cwill keep fighting for full funding to keep our parks clean and green.\u201d<\/p>\n To reach the reporter behind this story, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. To reach the editor, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/trx_addons\/components\/lazy-load\/images\/placeholder.png\")
A Combined Sewer Overflow point at the Southeast corner of the Carroll Street Bridge over the Gowanus Canal. When the city\u2019s sewers are overwhelmed, untreated sewage overflows into local waterways. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\nOld Putnam Trail located in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\n