wet-weather-discharge-point_panorama

In NYC (and indeed throughout the Northeast) you’ll hear rumors after you move here about how the sewers spew human waste into the area rivers during periods of excessive raining (or when snow melts, etc.). Well they’re not rumors. It happens. The combined sewer-drainage system creates this effect when it becomes overburdened – the pressure has to go somewhere. But the location of these particular drainage points remains a mystery, even a myth (read: rumor) of sorts until you stumble upon a Wet Weather Discharge Point. They’re clearly marked by the DEP and they look something like this sign. The particular sign I saw (no photo) was accompanied by ‘no swimming, no boating, no fishing’ pictographs. The above panorama is one such discharge point, in north Astoria, hidden in an industrial business district. Click it to embiggen.