New York's Bluebelt wetlands saved $80 million in infrastructure costs

In the 1990s, New York chose wetlands over conventional storm sewers on Staten Island; the Bluebelt strategy saved taxpayers $80 million in infrastructure costs. Instead of laying miles of underground concrete pipes, the city preserved and restored natural streams, ponds, and freshwater marshes to direct rainwater safely into surrounding bays.The financial and environmental success of the Staten Island Bluebelt model provided the blueprint for water management across New York City. The city’s overarching framework, outlined in the New York City Wetlands Strategy and the PlaNYC 2011 Waterways plan, officially incorporated natural habitats into the municipal infrastructure toolkit alongside conventional treatment facilities.According to figures published in the New York City Wetlands Strategy, urban expansion over the past century wiped out more than 90 per cent of New York City’s freshwater wetlands and roughly 85 per cent of coastal wetlands across the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary.