Environmental assessment section on physical resources, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

covering dirt piles, scheduling the siting of staging areas to minimize fugitive dust, and keeping consfruction vehicles properly maintained. The use of dust control systems will likely be a critical element throughout this project to meet the NYSDEC goals of “zero dust emissions” and to minimize the potential for uimecessary worker exposure to airborne substances. To mitigate for the foregoing impacts, the implementation of the following measures would be required of the applicant or responsible party:

• Use of water to control dust generated by the demolition of existing buildings or structures and by construction operations and during the clearii.g and grading of land • Application of water to dirt paths, gravel roads, materials, stockpiles, and other surfaces that can produce airborne dust over extended periods • Use of low-sulfur containing fuel for diesel engines to control or minimize sulfur emissions • Use of retrofitted or construction vehicles or equipment with emission control devices • Periodic street-sweeping and/or wetting down of paved roadway surfaces • Conformance to permits restricting hours of operation • General avoidance of construction-related traffic in the vicinity of area schools, hospitals, day care centers, and other sensitive receptors, and • Construction equipment will be maintained and operated in accordance with manufacturer’s recommendations

Construction machinery exhaust emissions are estimated to be of relatively short duration and of moderate intensity. Since construction equipment and activities are required to meet state and local standards pertaining to air pollution control, and the requirements listed above, pollutants emitted to the air directly or indirectly from the proposed construction activities would not significantly impact the ambient air quality of the region and would not jeopardize compliance with state and federal ambient air quality standards. Over the long-term, there would be no significant increase in air emissions associated with transportation from the implementation of the proposed action, assuming that transportation would resume comparable to pre-disaster conditions.

3.1.3 WATER RESOURCES

The portion of the Hudson River adjacent to the shorehne perimeter of the WTC is considered part of the Lower Hudson Reach, which extends for 19 miles Yonkers to the tip of Manhattan (Hart and Milliken 1992). The Hudson River, in its entirety, flows approximately 315 miles from its upstate source in the Adirondack Mountains to the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan. The portion of the Hudson River along the Manhattan shoreline is highly saline with salinity approaching 30 parts per thousand. From River Mile 0 (at the Battery) north along the Manhattan shoreline the Hudson River is fairly narrow with an average width of about 1,503 feet (ft) and an average depth of about 40 feet. The Hudson River is tidally influenced for 150 miles from The Battery to the Troy Dam near Albany, New York. Tides occur two times a day with a range of approximately 4 to 5 feet (NOAA 2002).

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