New York City’s 235th Street Pumping Station Earns Envision Gold

WASHINGTON, D.C. – August 3, 2020 – The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) announced today that the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) $30 million Reconstruction of the 235th Street Pumping Station (PS-313) located in the Bronx borough of New York is the recent recipient of the Envision® Gold award for sustainable infrastructure. The DEP worked in close collaboration with Tetra Tech to deliver this award- winning sustainable project. This project is the third DEP project to receive an Envision award, and the first to earn Gold. To earn Envision Gold, a project must demonstrate that it delivers a heightened range of environmental, social, and economic benefits to the host and affected communities.

Project Context and Background
Originally constructed in 1966, the 235th Street Pumping Station is a combined sewage and stormwater pumping station located within Riverdale Park along Palisade Avenue in the Bronx.

The pumping station handles a dry weather flow of 1.49 million gallons per day (MGD) and has a total station capacity of 10.9 MGD. The 235th Street Pumping Station receives combined sewer flow from approximately 80 acres of sewershed and is the last in a series of three pump stations.

This state of good repair project includes replacing the existing above grade pumping station building with a new building covering the same footprint as the existing building. The foundation and subgrade structure will remain in place with concrete repairs performed on the structure and new equipment (pumps, valves, controls, etc.) installed. A new emergency generator will provide backup power for the station, therefore providing for continuous sewer service to the surrounding area even in times of emergency. A new 20-inch diameter force main from the pumping station will be constructed to provide more reliable service to the surrounding community, and the roadway will be repaired at the end of the project construction.

The primary goal of the PS-313 project is to design a safe, reliable, efficient, resilient, and low maintenance pumping station. In order to achieve this goal, sustainability has been a major focus for the project team since the early planning phases. The ISI Envision rating system was identified early on as an established framework that could guide the project team to meeting this goal, and therefore the team elected to pursue an Envision Gold verification.

“As an Accountable Manager with the PS-313 design team, it was a great experience to see the different facets of the Envision requirements being implemented throughout the design phase and coming together in the construction documents. For a pumping station rehabilitation, the goal was not only to make a better station for the Operators, but also to make a better station for the surrounding community and environment as a whole.” – Steve Elie-Pierre, P.E. – NYC DEP, PS-313 Accountable Manager

“This project met several ambitious sustainability goals which were established at the outset of the project including reducing station energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions, reducing potable water consumption and eliminating waste from operations and maintenance activities,” said Melissa Peneycad, ISI’s Managing Director. “The project team was able to achieve its sustainability goals largely due to the successful implementation of a comprehensive sustainability management system—one of the best examples of such a system we have evaluated as part of our project verification program. We are pleased to present the Envision Gold award for sustainable infrastructure to New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection and its project partners for the PS-313 project.”

“Tetra Tech is pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with the New York City DEP on this challenging and innovative project. The sustainable features of the upgraded facility integrate DEP’s system and culture of incorporating sustainable Envision certificate requirements into the planning, design and construction to achieve desired goals and provide indispensable operational, social and environmental benefits to residents.” – Joko Osinulu, P.E., PMP – Tetra Tech PS-313 Project Manager.