By Dawn Henning
dhenning@ympj.org
Photo by Dawn Henning
Young volunteers redesigned tree pits to keep rainwater out of overburdened sewers.
This summer while most teenagers relaxed and recharged for another school year, young people at Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice participated in a design competition. When it rains, the sewers and sewage plants can’t handle all the water, so the teens looked for ways to keep polluted water from running into our rivers and streams during storms.
One way to do that is to keep the storm water out of the sewers in the first place, either by directing it to green, open spaces or capturing it and storing it for such uses as watering gardens or flushing toilets.
The First Annual Street Tree Pit Design Competition challenged youth not only to beautify their neighborhood with plantings, but to redesign street tree pits to enhance their ability to capture storm water.
Teens in the Community Building and Organizing Program (CBOP) served as street tree stewards around the Bronx River neighborhood all season long. Stewardship activities include removing garbage and debris from tree pits, loosening soil to allow water to reach tree roots, adding compost for nutrients, planting flowers and applying a thick layer of mulch to retain moisture.
The design competition took these activities one step further. The teens were asked to figure out how to allow the street tree pit to capture storm water runoff from the streets, thereby preventing it from entering the sewers.
Because the curbs along tree pits are solid, they restrict water from entering the pit. But along Morrison Avenue there were two tree pits with damaged curbs. Rather than see a defect, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice saw an opportunity! The teens split into two groups, and each group was assigned one of the broken-curb tree pits. Both designs included the use of buried pipes called French drains to convey the water from the street into the pit.
The groups were judged based on four categories: physical appearance, design concept, explanation of design, and design functionality. Judges included Teresa Crimmens, Anne-Marie Runfola, and Damian Griffen of the Bronx River Alliance and Henry LaJara of Youth Ministries, advised by Paul Mankiewicz of the Gaia Institute.
Faced with a tough decision, the judges determined Group 1 (Melissa Alba, Donhue Henry, James Key, Lourde Jackson, Sarinah Muhammad, and Dontae Richardson) to be stronger in appearance and functionality, while Group 2 (David Reyes, Ivanna Morrero, Brandon Pena, Andre Rivera, Tanesha Brown, Malik Branch, Rasean Robinson, and Sebastian Luna) excelled in explanation of design and design concept.
Implications of this competition extend far beyond the two resulting retrofitted street tree pits. The city has committed to planting a million new trees by 2017.
An opportunity exists to rethink the way trees are planted in order to maximize the benefits of tree plantings. Trees need water, and each time it rains, the city’s hard surfaces provide plenty of it. Unfortunately, current design standards keep this resource out of tree pits and send the rainwater straight to the sewers, overloading sewage treatment plants.
As the new trees are planted, city agencies should consider retrofits that would allow storm water to flow from the streets to the pits to feed the trees. Either curb cuts or permeable paving could accomplish this.
A self-sufficient tree pit would result in a healthier tree, providing more air quality and cooling benefits. It would require less overall maintenance and provide a longer lifespan.
In addition, this competition has trained a cadre of young people as stewards of street trees. The potential for job creation related to the efforts of the city’s long-range plan called PlaNYC2030 cannot be overstated, especially for disadvantaged neighborhoods in need of living wage job opportunities.
Dawn Henning is an environmental planner at Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice.
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