By Emily C. Dooley
Newsday
New York State will use $125 million in federal disaster money to rebuild a hazardous dam, restore wetlands, improve drainage and install other resiliency measures along the Mill River from Hempstead Lake State Park south to Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant.
Though still in a conceptual stage, the Living With the Bay project also will link communities along the river such as Rockville Centre and Oceanside through a series of bike paths, trails and road crossings.
Some areas — known as floodable riverfronts — will double as recreation spaces that also can retain water and store it in times of heavy rains. Improved drainage, underground cisterns and catch basins will also be installed, said Kris Van Orsdel, managing director of Infrastructure & Local Government Programs in the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, which is overseeing the project.
“It’s going to be a much more resilient, more safe area,” Van Orsdel said. “A green infrastructure, if it’s done correctly, is also a low operation and maintenance component.”
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