Octagon Residents Report Increased DEP Activity at NYC Water Tunnel #3 Site

According to postings on the Octagon residents’ bulletin board it appears that the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) may be gearing up its operations here on Roosevelt Island. The island is host to Water Tunnel # 3, Shaft 15B. For anyone familiar with the project the site is somewhat controversial as it will be acting as chlorination point for at least the segment of the water tunnel that proceeds under our Island.

“I’m just curious and I may just be in the dark completely cause I don’t read the news- but what is about to be built by those trailers in the back by the church(south)- it looks like they are finally about to start building something.”

“at least six of the blue rectangles are large portable liquid tanks, and they are being bolted up to a set of big pipes and valves. in addition, it looks like they are grading the ground for the truck access road. so it would seem they are getting ready to store sodium hypochlorite over there- I have a call in to the DEP to confirm this, but haven't heard back.”

“i;m mainly curious if they still plan on installing large light towers along the fence, and how often and what times of day they plan on large trucks rumbling by the building. i'd also like to know what they are doing to contain any spills - besides let it run down our driveway into the playground!”

The two most recent Main Street WIRE articles regarding the site dealt with safety issues (December 2, 2006) and with the size of the land required for security reasons around the entrance shaft (July 1, 2006). The above map is courtesy of the WIRE and is from the July 1, 2006 issue.

Update: 1:00 pm

Timing is everything. Apparently RIOC visited the DEP site this morning and they also saw this blog. According to RIOC President Stephen Shane:

"The project is to be able to pump excess water from the tunnel as it leaks in from groundwater sources, treat it for salinity and turbidity so that it is suitable to discharge into the river. It is not a superchlorination site."

Mr. Shane indicated that the DEP is sending RIOC a project description which once received will be made available.

Now I must admit I am confused as the WIRE articles, linked above, did refer to the site being used for chlorination purposes. This post was certainly not made to raise the alarm bells but merely to report what our neighbors up at the Octagon noted in their back yard.

NY1 Update re City Water Tunnel That Is Beneath Roosevelt Island

Many recent Roosevelt Island residents may not be aware that City Water Tunnel # 3 passes right under the Island but it is and the above video is an update from NY1 about the overall construction project.

Nothing specific about Roosevelt Island. I am sure once the Chlorine Trucks start coming onto the Island the story will once again pick up legs. We have all been assured that the chlorine that will be dumped into the tunnel to help purify the water will be in an inert form harmless to residents as the trucks enter and exit the island.

FYI: The Roosevelt Island "Prow"

On March 5, 2000, the F.Y.I. column in the New York Times ran the following Q and A regarding the construction of one of the few Roosevelt Island “points of interest” that point to the island being an island. If anyone has additional information regarding the design and construction let us know.

I have always wondered why at that spot and not somewhere else. I suppose it had to do with the boat landing referred to below. All I know is that every time my kids and I walk up that part of the promenade we have to build in a few minutes, at least, to play on the “boat”.

“A Nautical Stage

Q. A strange object that looks very much like a rusty old ship's prow protrudes from Roosevelt Island's west sea wall. It appears to be ''sailing'' across the channel toward 79th Street in Manhattan. What is it?

A. It's a performance stage and observation platform, built over an old boat landing in 1997 and designed to look . . . well, like a ship's prow. It projects about 50 feet out into the West Channel, and consists of a flat, unadorned concrete wedge clad with rusty plates of steel. Two small slots near the tip -- presumably for imaginary anchor chains -- are the only real nautical embellishment, though a few heavy mooring posts have been placed nearby.

The prow is in Octagon Park, in the northern section of the 157-acre island, below Coler Memorial Hospital. Nine acres of the 15-acre park, which was designed by Weintraub & di Domenico, a landscape architecture firm, were completed in 1992, but the prow is in a treeless forgotten area near the vents for the city's unfinished Third Water Tunnel. Set along a tattered section of the promenade, it is, at best, a diamond in the rough, though the view of Manhattan is stunning."

View from the South

Nautical Moorings

Octagon Dock

According to a conversation I had with an Octagon resident this past Summer this dock is probably not able to accept Ferry Service as it is wearing structurally such that the "contact" made with repeated moorings would cause it increasing damage. It appears safe for pedestrian traffic but beyond that it would probably not hold up to an official inspection to receive ferry service. At least that was the opinion of that resident.