Earth Day 2011: Central New York is on the right, 'green' track

Tthe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has declared Onondaga County and Syracuse, New York among the United States top 10 leaders in green infrastructure. Located in the centre of New York State, Onondaga County is the home to the City of Syracuse.

EPA lauded the county’s list of 50 projects — among them vegetative roofs, porous pavement and the restoration of urban wetlands — as an innovative approach to diverting rainwater from its overtaxed sewer system. The goal is to prevent sewage overflows into Onondaga Lake, and do it more cheaply and less obtrusively than could be done by building new sewage treatment plants.

Twenty-five years ago, Onondaga Lake was considered one of the nation’s most polluted bodies of water. For decades, right up to the beginning of this century, it was a dumping ground for industrial pollution and municipal sewage.

“There’s something going on here now,” and “Syracuse and Onondaga County are years ahead” of other communities, says EPA Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck.

Posted April 2011