The Staten Island borough president is demanding an investigation after an obvious sewage leak into lakes at a neighborhood park, the place he mentioned defective piping has constantly spewed uncooked sewage into an interconnected waterway.
“If this was Central Park and this was the problem, we had uncooked sewage within the lake at Central Park, folks can be flipping out justifiably,” mentioned Borough President Vito Fossella.
He and different native leaders are calling for the formation of a activity power with applicable state and native companies to deal with what they described as a transparent public well being hazard at Clove Lakes Park. Contained in the park, Clove Lake itself is linked by waterways to Martling Lake and Brooks Lake.
“All neighborhoods, all communities come right here for the playground, for the strolls, for the parks,” mentioned Debra Altman, a neighborhood resident.
Altman mentioned a foul odor has lingered for years.
“There have been occasions that I’ve walked down on the lake and you possibly can odor how unhealthy the sewage is,” she mentioned.
The lakes had been open to folks to boat and fish in, however at the moment are closed following testing performed by the Division of Parks and Recreation.
A spokesperson for the division instructed NBC New York in a press release: “NYC Parks will not be conscious of any sanitary sewer traces flowing into Clove Lake. We’re coordinating with related companies concerning subsequent steps.”
Staten Island lawmakers mentioned they imagine there’s a simple repair.
“This isn’t rocket science. That is plumbing, for crying out loud.“ mentioned State Sen. Andrew Lanza.
Some parkgoers mentioned they merely need the problem addressed.
“Staten Island deserves a very nice park and it is a beautiful park so hopefully they will determine it out.” mentioned Delilah Atanasio.
A spokesperson for the town’s Division of Environmental Safety mentioned they’d be part of the duty power lawmakers referred to as for on Monday.
This story was initially reported for broadcast by NBC New York. AI instruments helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC New York journalist edited the article for publication.
