The New Yolk city sits on a land area of 304.6mi². Sitting at the site where the Atlantic Ocean and the Hudson River meets, it has five boroughs. By the year 2013, the city has a population of 8.406 million. Some of the city’s major iconic sites include state buildings, skyscrapers, Broadway theatre, and the central park.

The city has an underground water supply system. The system initially used water from Croton River. Today, New Yolk’s water comes from Catskill-Delaware watershed and Croton. The Catskill-Delaware watershed encompasses an area of forestland whose rivers and streams converge to 3 lakes and 19 reservoirs. These provide 90% of the water while the 12 reservoirs in Croton supply the rest 10%. Other communities outside the city but within the watershed areas also use this water. The water supply system sustains life in the city in that people, animals, and plants need water for survival. The water flows to its destination through tunnels and pipes. Around 1.2 billion gallons of water flow to the city every day. The watersheds are mountainous forcing the water to flow by gravity to lower elevations.  The water pressure is enough to send water up to the sixth floor of an apartment. For larger buildings, the water of pumped to tanks and then allowed to flow down. Other destinations of the water include swimming polls and decorative fountains in the city.

Whatever part of the city that is not paved has bare soil. A significant part of the city bare meaning it has no pavements or buildings. Much of this permeable surface is covered by soil. Most of the city residents use dandelion, Pesky weed as salads especially when tender. Other common weeds and flowers in the city include day lilies, violets, purslane, roses, and lambs’ quarters. However, a considerable part of the city is composed of infrastructure. From buildings to bridges, the city has an airport, a subway system, and a gas supply system. Of concern is the state of these infrastructures. About eleven percent of the bridges are above 100 years of age. This makes the bridges prone to damage and total failure. The subway system run for 659 miles and has been operational since 1904. Thirty seven percent of the mainline signals have exceeded their useful life and trains move slower. Sixty percent of the gas mains are cast iron and unprotected steel. About two percent of the gas supplied leaks to the environment. According to the department of transportation, 30.4 % of the roads in the city either are in poor or fair condition. Within the city, there is 2000 acres of freshwater wetlands. The New Yolk state regulates these freshwater wetlands. The regulations protect wetlands larger than 12.4 acres though the smaller water lands are protected if deemed they are of benefit to the local community. The wetlands smaller than 12.4 acres in size are isolated wetlands and receive focus as contributors of hydrology and biodiversity. The adjacent areas to the wetlands are receiving protection from the state with an aim of maintaining the conditions of the wetlands.

Sustainability approach is significant in identifying the sustainability of a site. It guides the identification of the best practices that are implementable to enable the sustainability of a site.  It identifies the major resources in a site and regulations governing such resources. However, the practice cannot be relied to the later in that it may identify practices that may endanger the future generations. The approach can be integrated in solving some of the existing environmental issues such the old infrastructure in the New Yolk city. The city needs better infrastructure for sustainability. In addition, there is need for more steps in the master planning phase such as the identification of manmade resources both on-site and off-site. The man made resources are significant in the sustainability of life in a site.

Bibliography

Jalabi, Raya. “New York’s Dangerously Old Public Infrastructures”. The Guardian, 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/14/new-yorks-dangerously-old-public-infrastructures

LaGro, James A. Site Analysis. New York: John Wiley, 2001.

WNYC. “The Natural Resources Of New York City”. WNYC, 2003. http://www.wnyc.org/story/70816-the-natural-resources-of-new-york-city_/.

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