Kneeling in the grass at Bowne Park in Flushing, hydrologist Mike Como of the U.S. Geological Survey New York Water Science Center unfurled a tool with a yellow measuring tape into a well.
The well was nearly 60 feet deep, about the height of a six-story building. Como’s tool beeped, indicating that the water level beneath the ground was just about that far below the surface, too. He entered the measure into a national database.
Como’s work, which officially kicked off in February, is part of the federal agency’s monitoring of groundwater levels, which has resumed in New York City after a decade-long hiatus.
“That gap was just time where we could have been learning more, but we’re back,” Como said.
The city Department of Environmental Protection hired the USGS to collect scientific data on the depth of the water table as a first step to understanding the landscape and how factors like rain, sea-level rise and projects to manage stormwater affect the groundwater.
The efforts come as some residents and elected officials sound the alarm about ongoing groundwater flooding in their communities. Knowing where the groundwater is and how it changes is a first step to dealing with that flooding, city officials say.
Groundwater flooding may become a more widespread or severe problem due to climate change: Water tables rise with sea levels, which are estimated to be at least half a foot higher by the 2030s. Unchecked, rising groundwater can cause flooding, create sinkholes in roads, damage underground tunnels and utility equipment, spread toxins at contaminated sites and render stormwater management strategies ineffective.
The USGS is starting to monitor a network of over 150 wells throughout the boroughs, some installed as early as the 1970s. The first step is to find the wells, which may have been paved or developed over.
“A well in the Great Plains will probably stay there forever. Here, you come back, and then there’s a McDonald’s or Starbucks,” in its place, Como said. He recently failed to locate two wells near Kennedy Airport and had to return with metal detectors (that time, he found the wells).
At some wells, team members will manually take measurements of the water level, and at others, devices will do “continuous monitoring.” The USGS will also measure lake levels and stream flows, which can indicate what’s happening with the groundwater.
“We’re hoping that getting this network back will be able to help the city evaluate what’s going on, and hopefully remediate anything that they need to remediate,” said Ronald Busciolano, a supervisory hydrologist at the USGS New York Water Science Center.
Where to Put the Water?
The DEP provided USGS with a list of sites with past groundwater flooding issues. The team is also keeping an eye on places where projects to capture and drain stormwater are installed — such as Staten Island, where the city created “Bluebelts,” engineered natural watersheds to convey water. Low-lying coastal neighborhoods — like Red Hook, Brooklyn — are also getting a close look.
The USGS’s three-year study is in part meant to help the city figure out the scope of the groundwater flooding problem in order to address it moving forward. But locals in southeastern Queens have dealt for decades with groundwater getting into their buildings and want immediate solutions.
York College, for instance, located in Jamaica, has spent “millions of dollars” on repairs and renovations since 2019 because of regular groundwater flooding in its basement, according to a letter Councilmember Nantasha Wiliams sent to the DEP.
The college has its own pumps to get the water out and has a capital plan in place to expand the system, according to a spokesperson.
New York City used to pump groundwater in that area as part of its drinking supply, but by 2007, it stopped because of pollution concerns. The pumping had kept the groundwater away from the surface. Some elected officials representing that area, including Williams, implored the government to step in.
DEP Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala during a March City Council hearing indicated that restarting pumping is not feasible. He said the groundwater in that area is “polluted enough that we can’t just pull it out and dump it into Jamaica Bay or even into the ocean.”
Plus, he estimated the cost of restarting the pump stations to be between $500 million and $1 billion, and it’d be likely the city would have to build new ones — and expand a wastewater treatment plant to be able to process the water.
“We are taking this situation seriously,” Aggarwala said. “However, I think people have to appreciate there is no easy panacea for this.”
Installing sump pumps or French drains in individual buildings would likely be a more logical solution, he said. A letter the DEP sent back to the elected officials last month also noted investments in the sewer system and stormwater management could help with flooding.
Williams said she is “cautiously optimistic” about groundwater monitoring starting again but remains frustrated. “I understand they need to understand the scope and breadth of the issue, but I see this can be another way to push off solving for this problem,” she said.