NYC DEP completes Staten Island stormwater project at St. Charles School

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has completed a $600,000 stormwater management project at St. Charles School in Staten Island’s Oakwood neighborhood, adding underground storage infrastructure designed to reduce localized flooding and improve water quality in the Lower Bay.

Constructed in partnership with the Parish of Saint Charles Borromeo and the Archdiocese of New York, the project installed underground stormwater chambers beneath the school parking lot to capture runoff from rooftops and paved surfaces. According to DEP, the chambers can store more than 50,000 gallons of stormwater at a time and manage approximately 818,000 gallons annually by slowly infiltrating runoff into the ground rather than sending it into the sewer system.

“Climate change is already reshaping life in New York City, bringing heavier storms and more intense rainfall,” said Lisa F. Garcia, commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, in a press release. “As we rise to meet the challenge, we know that public infrastructure can’t do it alone, and incentives like DEP’s Resilient NYC Partners grant program help private properties do their part to capture stormwater where it falls.”

The project was funded through DEP’s Resilient NYC Partners program, which supports green infrastructure installations on private properties. DEP said the initiative has completed more than 15 projects to date with roughly $19 million in funding. The agency also noted its broader green infrastructure program has installed more than 16,000 assets citywide, including rain gardens, permeable pavement systems, infiltration basins and subsurface detention systems aimed at reducing sewer overflows and urban flooding.