Large Green Roof Proposed

A green roof planned to cover Hillview Reservoir in Yonkers, N.Y. would be the world’s largest, topping the 24.5-acre Millennium Park in Chicago. The reservoir green roof would cover a concrete cap over the 90-acre reservoir.

New York is taking aim at the record for the world’s largest green roof, with a proposed project to top a Yonkers reservoir.

The $1.6 billion project would cover the 90-acre Hillview Reservoir with a concrete cap, then pile a foot of dirt and grass on top of it.

“The choices aren’t being made for aesthetics,” said Rich Zunino, the Department of Environmental Protection’s manager of the project. “The soil actually provides some protection to the concrete.”

Environmentalists are pushing for “green roofs” on top of buildings around the world, saying they reduce heating and cooling costs while absorbing carbon dioxide.

The DEP, though, says the proposed cover would simply be a cost-effective way to protect the concrete from cracking in the sun, and to soak up rainwater before it can clog sewers.

The agency is under federal orders to cover the reservoir to keep bacteria from bird droppings out of the city’s unfiltered water supply.

Construction is scheduled to start by 2011 and finish by 2016, though the agency also will study building a floating cover over the water.

The project would be the world’s largest green roof by far, said Steven Peck, founder of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, who identified today’s largest as the 24.5-acre Millennium Park in Chicago, built on top of a parking garage.

Source: New York Daily News