Discussion / Impact

Our project is meant to be the start of a long-term change. Water pollution, especially in urban areas, has a large amount of governmental jurisdiction that we cannot tackle all at once. This is why the core value of our project is initiating change at the public level, to bring awareness to the people of NYC about the state of their waters. By making water quality data legible and physically present in a space as visited as Brooklyn Bridge Park, we allow the people of the city to understand where they live more. We believe that informed communities are the most powerful driver of environmental accountability, and that a floating installation, visible and interactive, can spark curiosity in people who would never seek out a water quality report on their own. Our goal is not to solve the CSO crisis in one project, but to to make New Yorkers feel the urgency of what flows beneath the surface of their city, and to build awareness that eventually translates into systemic change.

The installation is designed to function alongside existing water quality monitoring efforts in New York Harbor rather than in competition with them. Riverkeeper conducts regular boat-based sampling throughout the estuary, and the NYSDEC maintains an ambient monitoring network tracking bacterial contamination across designated swimming sites. Our temperature-based prediction model can be calibrated against this existing data in the future, which can fuel higher predictive accuracy. Brooklyn Bridge Park's environmental mission, centered on ecological restoration and community stewardship, makes it a perfect place to deploy our sensor rig. The installation's physical design avoids interference with kayak launches, recreational programming, and pedestrian flow along the piers as our sensor are made to go along with the tides, closer to shore, and its sizing is not large enough to obstruct water activities.

The use of temperature as a proxy to predict E. coli presence is highly feasible according to our field data, as well as other cited research. The relationship between warm stormwater runoff, CSO discharge events, and elevated fecal coliform counts is well-documented in urban hydrology literature, providing a strong scientific basis for this approach. Future additions of metrics like dissolved oxygen and turbidity could further improve prediction accuracy, particularly across seasonal variation and differing storm intensities. The hardware needed to support these additions can be integrated into the existing sensor platform without requiring significant structural changes. Deployment of our sensor rigs would have to go through the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, making early stakeholder engagement essential.

Brooklyn Bridge Park draws over five million visitors annually, many engaging in near-water activities around Pebble Beach, the population most directly exposed to CSO contamination risk. Most are unaware of how overflow events affect the water around them. The installation makes that invisible risk visible, turning a temperature reading into an accessible public signal and drawing visitors into a broader conversation about urban water infrastructure. By situating this conversation in a highly trafficked, mixed-demographic public park, the project reaches a broader audience than traditional environmental advocacy typically does. Even a brief encounter with the installation contributes to a gradual accumulation of public literacy around water quality and the infrastructural systems that shape it.

Temperature is a proxy, not a confirmation, and the installation signals elevated E. coli probability rather than verified contamination. Signage must communicate this distinction clearly to avoid misinterpretation or undue public alarm. Weather and tidal forces also present meaningful risk, as a floating structure in an active harbor is subject to storm surges, wave action, and seasonal ice, all of which could damage sensors or destabilize it. These concerns will be addressed in future design conversations around anchoring strategy, material selection, and maintenance protocols with Brooklyn Bridge Park staff. If temperature-based predictions diverge visibly from Riverkeeper or NYSDEC results, the project's credibility could be in danger. To avoid misrepresentting data, making transparent methodology communication and ongoing cross-referencing with institutional data is essential.

The most important dimension of this project's sustainability is its potential to outlast its physical form. By generating ongoing public dialogue around CSO infrastructure and water quality, the installation contributes to a longer cycle of public awareness that does not depend on the sensor rig remaining in the water indefinitely. Communities that understand the relationship between urban stormwater systems and the health of their waterways are better equipped to advocate for the infrastructure investments that protect them. The relationships that will be formed with institutional partners like Riverkeeper and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation during deployment create a foundation for sustained collaboration beyond this initial phase.