New York City’s built environment is varied and immense, containing many characteristics that may amplify risks to hazards. Below New York’s streets and buildings is a vast network of critical underground transportation and infrastructure that enables millions of people to live in, work in, and visit the city — a factor that only adds to the complexity of New York City’s unique built environment.
Millions of physical assets, such as buildings, transportation networks, energy infrastructure, and waste and drinking water systems, are present throughout New York City (NYC), and are vital to the city’s security, public health and safety, and economy. In the event of a major disaster, New Yorkers will rely upon these vital assets to sustain life, wellbeing, and safety.
Although these assets have become safer and more structurally sound as building codes and land use laws have improved, the built environment remains vulnerable to a variety of natural and non-natural hazards. For example, buildings located within the floodplain, or the storm-surge zone, are susceptible to flooding and/or coastal storms. Buildings along the coastline are also vulnerable to the impact of long-term coastal erosion. New York’s many older, unreinforced masonry buildings are at a higher risk of damage than other buildings during earthquakes. Other buildings are less primed for damage when they are made from sturdier materials or have been recently reinforced.
Land Use
New York City’s land area covers approximately 305 square miles (about 195,000 acres or 8.5 billion square feet). Excluding streets and major bodies of water, New York City’s usable land, or lot area, totals approximately 145,000 acres (about 6.3 billion square feet).
Buildings
New York City’s building stock encompasses approximately 1 million structures that vary by construction type, age, and use. Buildings reflect a wide variety of uses and construction types. These include single-family houses; freestanding wood-frame structures; attached masonry row houses; public housing projects; mid- and high-rise apartment complexes; low-rise retail districts; and massive commercial buildings and skyscrapers.
New York City’s Zoning Resolution and Construction Codes control the way buildings are designed, built, occupied, and maintained. The Zoning Resolution creates a structure to regulate building size, use, location, and density to shape the character of New York City’s neighborhoods and maintain residents’ quality of life. The Construction Codes specify standards for design, construction, and maintenance of individual buildings to protect public safety, health, and welfare. Both sets of guidelines are included as “Planning and Regulatory Capabilities” that advance New York City’s mitigation strategies and sustainability and resiliency goals.
Over the years, New York City’s built environment has become safer and more structurally sound as zoning laws and Construction Codes have evolved and modernized. Many of New York City’s buildings were built before modern codes were adopted, and as a result older buildings are potentially more vulnerable to certain hazards. Retrofitting older buildings to current, safer standards is a solution, but this can be prohibitive to building owners without financial support. However, even newer buildings that are built to conform to more recent, stringent standards — and are at risk from some types of hazards — are still safer and more resilient than older buildings.
Fire is the most common and most lethal hazard for city dwellers. New York City’s fire regulations have had significant influence upon the way buildings are sited, designed, and constructed here. Fire-protection provisions, which are part of New York City’s Construction Codes, were enacted to limit the potential for fire to develop in an enclosed space, to protect against fire spreading from floor to floor and from building to building, and to ensure that people can evacuate safely.
The vast majority of buildings in New York City have been erected in the last 150 years. Over this period, the scope of New York City’s fire-protection initiatives has evolved from a focus on protecting property to its current emphasis on protecting people. In many cases, new regulations have had a retroactive safety-improvement effect. As a result, the most important classification of New York City buildings is fire based and combines type of building occupancy with fire response of construction materials. Use of combustible materials (e.g., wood) is limited to the type of occupant load (most commonly one- or two-family houses). However, mass timber is permitted for multifamily dwellings up to a certain size because it does not have the same fire and flood vulnerability as other wood-frame buildings. As the number of occupants increases (or type of occupancy changes), codes limit the use of certain materials, impose stricter protection of materials against the effect of fire, provide for sufficient egress capacity, and impose other fire-safety installations.
Construction Type
Old codes simply had specifications concerning a building’s stability under the weight of its occupants and materials and had provisions to ensure that a building’s structure was sufficient to sustain moderate wind events. Over time, engineers have recognized how critical it is to design buildings to sustain rare environmental events, such as floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes.
Decades-old buildings that were constructed in New York City according to less stringent codes are likely to sustain more structural damage during a severe weather event compared to newer buildings engineered with materials like steel, concrete, and reinforced masonry.
New York City’s stock of one- to two-story low-rise buildings are usually wood-frame buildings. During a flood, wood-frame buildings are more likely to sustain structural damage — from floodwater forces and electrical-short fires — than buildings framed with steel, masonry, or concrete. Unreinforced masonry buildings have a higher risk of earthquake damage than buildings that are designed according to current, more modern codes.
Buildings that are connected to each other (e.g., row houses and brownstones) have greater stability than isolated buildings, unless vacant lots are interspersed among unreinforced masonry buildings — which puts these buildings at higher risk of collapse.
For any building in New York City, lack of adequate maintenance can increase vulnerability.
Building Age
A building’s age is an important indicator of structural vulnerability to the impacts of some hazards. This is because different standards relating to building for construction and materials were in effect at different times.
For example, in New York City, during a moderate wind event, a light-frame building built decades ago according to less stringent codes is more likely to sustain structural damage than a newer building made from the same materials. Newer buildings using engineered materials like steel, concrete, and reinforced masonry have an increased capability to resist significant environmental events, if they were designed to meet the more modern standards — particularly those contained in the Building Code of 1968 or more recent iterations.
In 2008, New York City adopted and applied its Construction Code to all new construction. Many of the most recent code provisions address natural hazard mitigation, including new standards to protect buildings from earthquakes, extreme temperatures, flooding, wind, and winter weather. The City has actively incorporated resiliency into its building regulations since 1983, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) first released its Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) for New York City, setting the boundaries of the 100-year floodplain. Today, New York City has further specified these requirements in Appendix G of its Building Code.
In the absence of extraordinary environmental events, the age of a building rarely affects the reliability of the building’s interior structural system. But the age of a building also indicates how long its exterior envelope has been exposed to the weather. Changes in daily and seasonal temperature, driven rains, repeated cycles of icing and snow, etc., affect most materials. The longer a material has had weather exposure, the higher the risk of degradation. In most cases building envelopes are a combination of several materials (e.g., brick, wood, stone, glass, concrete, terra-cotta) each with its own rate of weathering. Damaged, rusted, or cracked facade material may fall and injure pedestrians. Lack of sufficient or timely repair and maintenance of facades can create a risk to the public even in the absence of an environmental or fire event.
Building Value
According to the New York City Department of Finance’s latest available data, New York City’s total building and market value is approximately $2.4 trillion dollars, a $1.4 trillion increase from 2014. By applying Hazards US Multi-Hazard (HAZUS-MH) assumptions for determining the content value within these buildings, it is estimated that New York City’s total content value is approximately $967 billion, an increase from $708 billion in 2014. Manhattan accounts for the largest proportion, with approximately 40 percent of the city’s building value and 45 percent of its contents value.
However, overall value exceeds the sum of building and contents value. The businesses and industries housed in many of these buildings, especially in Manhattan’s Financial District and Midtown, are sometimes worth billions more.
Energy Systems
New York City’s energy infrastructure provides electric, natural gas, and steam to 8.8 million New Yorkers. It is one of the most complex and reliable services in the world. Power lines with robust, redundant networks link New York City to the broader regional electric grid. Four privately owned pipelines transport natural gas to the City’s two gas utilities from as far away as Canada and the Gulf Coast.
The largest steam system in the United States is located between 96th Street and the Battery, and provides heating, cooling, humidification, and sterilization services to 1,650 Manhattan customers.1Con Edison Media Relations, “Con Edison’s Steam System Will Become NYC’s Hottest New Clean Energy Solution,” Con Edison, March 23, 2022.
Electricity
Because transmission lines from outside the city cannot carry enough electricity into New York City to meet its daily maximum electrical demand, or peak load, regulations require that in-city generation must have sufficient capacity to supply 80 percent of forecasted demand. Transmission lines from upstate New York, Long Island, and New Jersey carry the balance into New York City.2New York ISO, “The Capacity Market’s Role in Grid Reliability: Frequently Asked Questions,” New York ISO, April 27, 2023.
Several parties own and operate New York’s in-city electric generation system. Con Edison distributes electricity to the majority of electric customers in New York City’s five boroughs. It also co-generates electricity at its Manhattan steam plant on East 14th Street. PSEG Long Island, the other electric distribution company here, provides service to customers on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens.
Con Edison currently supplies electricity to about 3.3 million New York City customers within its 294–square mile service area. Within the five boroughs, Con Edison has 46 area substations that supply network (underground) and non-network (overhead) loads.3Consolidated Edison, Inc., “Edison Electric Institute Financial Conference Presentation,” Con Edison, November 12, 2023. Con Edison also has a Westchester substation that supplies the Edenwald network in the Bronx.
Con Edison has an extensive underground network to support electric distribution within New York City’s five boroughs — 89,211 miles of primary and secondary underground cable, 33,714 underground transformers, 23,804 miles of underground duct, and 256,085 manholes and service boxes.4Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, Utilization of Underground and Overhead Power Lines in the City of New York, Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, December 2013.
PSEG Long Island serves the Rockaways with three substations located in Rockaway Beach, Arverne, and Far Rockaway.5PSEG Long Island, “Rockaways: Reliability Projects,” PSEG Long Island. The substations operate at voltage levels of 69 kilovolts (kV), 33 kV, 13 kV, and 4 kV. The approximate number of customers served by PSEG Long Island is 32,757. Service is provided through 112 miles of overhead service and 34 miles of underground cable.6Call Me Power, “PSEG Long Island Office in Roslyn Heights (Nassau County),” Call Me Power, November 11, 2021.
While New York City’s electricity system is robust, it is still vulnerable to extreme weather conditions. For example, high winds and ice storms can bring down overhead power lines, either by blowing them down directly or by causing falling trees to topple them. Flooding is another threat, since many of New York City’s power generation plants are located in the 1 percent annual chance floodplain. Extreme heat can push the demand for air-conditioning so high that the electricity demand exceeds the grid’s delivery capacity, risking power outages across the city that can have other wide-ranging, severe impacts on people and businesses.
After Hurricane Sandy, Con Edison invested $1 billion over a four-year period to make its infrastructure better able to withstand future extreme weather events. Con Edison has enhanced its infrastructure to minimize outages during future storms through redesigned networks, underwater transformers, reclosers, and by using stronger cables that release from utility poles if and when trees hit them — a strategy to minimize disruption, expense, and repair time normally associated with fixing knocked-down utility poles.
Natural Gas
Con Edison and National Grid distribute gas to New York City. Con Edison supplies natural gas in Manhattan, the Bronx, and northern Queens. National Grid supplies natural gas in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and southern Queens.
Natural gas meets approximately 65 percent of New York City’s heating needs, provides a significant percentage of its cooking needs, and fuels more than 98 percent of the in-city electricity production at power plants.
Four privately owned pipelines transport natural gas from the Gulf Coast, Western Canada, and other production areas to city gates, or local interconnection points. From these city gates, high-pressure gas flows through an intra-city transmission system, from which power plants draw gas directly.
Within New York City, Con Edison serves 897,979 gas customers (as of January 1, 2018 ), through 2,255 miles of gas mains that connect out to 228,651 service lines. (Con Edison’s entire gas system has 4,242 miles of pipe.) To reach customers, gas is delivered through regulator stations that reduce its pressure, channel it into a vast network of underground distribution mains, and finally deliver the gas to customers.
Like much of New York’s underground infrastructure, gas mains are a mix of new and old. Miles of cast-iron and unprotected steel pipe are being replaced annually by plastic and coated steel mains.
Age alone does not determine a pipe’s safety. Other factors include the pipe’s size, thickness, material, and perhaps most importantly, the underground environmental conditions. Each factor has different effects on a gas pipe over time. A new pipe, for example, can be as vulnerable as an older pipe if the ground underneath it has been undermined by free-flowing water or constructed with inadequate backfill.
Utilities regularly use leak-detection surveys to monitor the gas system, respond to reports of gas leaks, and replace reported leak-prone pipes as soon as they are identified. The utilities also conduct multilingual gas safety and gas leak awareness programs to reach all segments of New York City’s diverse population, reiterating the message that people should immediately call 911 or the company’s emergency numbers if they detect any gas odor.
Incidents can occur from human error, such as inadvertently leaving the gas on when a pilot light is out, or simply not being aware of faulty or malfunctioning company or customer equipment. Explosions are rare, but do occur.
Steam
Con Edison has five steam-generating plants in New York City — four in Manhattan, including its largest facility, the East River plant at 14th Street — and one in Queens. Con Edison also contracts to receive steam from a Brooklyn Navy Yard plant.
Con Edison’s network of 105 miles of underground pipes transports steam to over 1,650 customers on Manhattan’s East Side south of 96th Street and on the West Side south of 89th Street.
Customers that rely on steam for heating, cooling, humidification, and sterilization services include some of the city’s most notable building complexes, such as Rockefeller Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, major hospital centers, and others. Buildings that utilize Con Edison’s steam service do not have to own and maintain their own boilers — an extraordinarily attractive option that lowers the expense of operating large building complexes in Manhattan.
Steam-pipe explosions, although infrequent, can happen when a water hammer punctures a pipe — an event that can sometimes cause asbestos release (from legacy insulation on very old pipes). An example of this is a steam-pipe explosion that occurred on July 19, 2018, in Manhattan’s Flatiron District. These explosions can endanger people, damage other underground infrastructure, disrupt telecommunications and other utility services, and compromise the structural stability of nearby buildings.
Telecommunication System
New York City’s telecommunications sector — which includes internet access, information services, phone, cable TV, satellite, and broadcast TV and radio services — serves New York City’s 8.8 million residents, 4.5 million workers, 268,000 businesses, and over 60.5 million annual visitors.7NYC Planning, The Ins and Outs of NYC Commuting, NYCPlanning, September 2019; City of New York, Small Business First: Better Government. Stronger Businesses, City of New York; Office of the New York State Comptroller, Tourism Industry in New York City: Reigniting the Return, Office of the New York State Comptroller, April 2021.
The Physical System
Each service uses different network terminology and architectures, but all services have similar network components — network facilities, cabling, wireless components, and customer equipment.
Network facilities
Central offices, mobile telephone switching offices (MTSOs), cable TV head ends, data centers, interconnection of points-of-presence (POPs), and switching centers are important centralized facilities that play similar roles in different types of telecommunications networks. These facilities house networking equipment, handle data storage, provide network interconnections, and perform other distribution and transmission tasks.
Cabling
Cabling components are used in all telecommunications networks and fall into three broad categories:
- Trunk cabling connects central offices, MTSOs, cable television head ends, or POPs to one other.
- Mainline cabling is the primary distribution network through neighborhoods for terrestrial networks. This network component connects the central office, head end, or POP to residences and businesses.
- Service (drop) wires provide the terrestrial link between the mainline cable to the customer premises.
A significant proportion of telecommunication cabling in New York City is underground. These can be either buried in trenches or placed inside conduits.
In New York City, most underground cable is placed in conduits. New York City’s oldest underground cabling, some of which is more than 90 years old, is lead-sheathed copper. The newest is fiber-optic cable, which is specially engineered to protect all fiber strands with a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) outer jacket with aramid strength members and water-blocking compounds.
Aerial cabling is strung between utility poles to connect equipment at the edge of the network to facilities that house networking equipment.
Submarine cables are heavily armored cables that can be laid on ocean floors, on riverbeds, or plowed into the silt of riverbeds.
Wireless Components
Antennae are placed on rooftops, towers, or atop poles to support broadcast television, cell phone service, telecommunications backhaul, Wi-Fi distribution, and other services. Antennae can either be connected to the larger network via cable or wirelessly via satellite or microwave.
Rooftop satellite dishes provide the transmission link to connect facilities or consumer premises’ equipment inside a building to distant network facilities via a satellite intermediary.
Customer Premises Equipment
Customer premises equipment refers to the phones, cable TV boxes, routers, and other telecommunications equipment at a home, business, data center, or other customer location. This equipment, which connects the home or business to the larger network, is used to access voice, data, and broadband services offered by the telecommunications service provider.
Telecommunications Service Providers
Telecommunications providers are classified by regulators according to the services they provide.
Many companies offer broadband services to residential customers, but the vast majority of New York City is served by four companies that offer fixed voice, internet, and cable service, and other companies offering mobile service and access to Wi-Fi. The incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) refers to the local telephone company that held a monopoly on regional service prior to the divestiture of AT&T in 1984. In New York City, Verizon is the ILEC.
Cable television companies deliver cable TV, voice, and internet services to a region under a local franchise agreement. These are, in effect, regional monopolies for the delivery of video services. In New York City, there are three cable TV companies with franchises.
Competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) are communications providers that compete with ILECs and cable TV companies. CLECs, which were established by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, install and operate their own network infrastructure, but some utilize the ILEC’s infrastructure to deliver services to end users.
Four major carriers provide cellular telephone service in New York City, and a number of mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) offer service by reselling service from one of these major carriers. An increasing number of companies offer Wi-Fi and wireless internet access to end users.
Although Verizon, New York City’s ILEC, uses its own network infrastructure to provide both wired and wireless services, other wireless companies here utilize CLEC and ILEC networks to provide connectivity between their centralized network operations equipment to their antennae.
In addition to these carriers, New York City has a number of broadcast TV and radio operators, a satellite TV and internet provider, and a satellite radio provider.
New York City has 31 other franchisees that use its streets, poles, and other physical infrastructure. New York City also has agreements with two conduit infrastructure providers. One infrastructure provider covers all five boroughs, and the other covers Manhattan and the Bronx. Subject to certain requirements, telecommunications providers located outside of Manhattan and the Bronx can use other conduit infrastructure providers.
The Regulatory Scheme
This seemingly innocuous topic turns out to be a risk factor of its own. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. The New York State Department of Public Service regulates landline telephone service and various telecom franchise agreements. The City Departments of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT), Transportation (DOT), and Buildings (DOB) exercise authority over franchises in the city and aspects of local physical telecommunications infrastructure. Wireless providers are generally only regulated at the federal level. However, the regulatory authority of any given entity may vary depending on the service being provided — though the facilities and equipment used to provide the service may be similar — and the service may be nearly indistinguishable from another service from an end user’s perspective. In regard to resiliency, no single entity regulates or enforces generally applicable rules to promote resiliency across the entire telecommunications sector. The FCC has rules in some contexts (e.g., for 911 operations) but has generally been promoting industry best practices that do not have associated compliance or enforcement requirements.
Recently, the FCC has taken action — the City argues unlawfully — to preempt state and local regulations in areas of traditional local control and in areas that touch on resilience, such as equipment siting regulations and local authority following natural disaster scenarios.
Reliability
New York City’s telecommunications systems are generally reliable, but networks and equipment are sensitive to heat, dust, humidity, and human error. If network facilities and customer premises equipment are situated within flood zones, they may be at risk from flooding. Underground cables could be damaged during excavations. Overhead cables and antennae are vulnerable to high winds, lightning, fires, and various man-made hazards.
The continuous operation of telecommunications services also depends upon other industry sectors. For example, telecommunications networks, which are powered by electricity, are highly vulnerable if there are power outages. Telecommunications equipment also depends upon HVAC systems to keep critical components cool, resulting in networks’ vulnerability when cooling systems are disrupted and equipment overheats. Although critical telecommunications facilities all have backup batteries and generators, 13 percent of New York City’s critical telecom facilities are located in floodplains. Rooftop cell sites are vulnerable if power outages last longer than their limited backup battery power can keep them running. Some pole-top sites also have limited backup power, and others may lack it entirely.
During and following emergencies, telecommunications networks are also vulnerable when the City experiences transportation disruptions. Telecommunications networks need to be repaired quickly, but blocked or impassable roads, train tracks, or transportation links can hinder the rapid movement of necessary equipment and personnel.
Telecommunications networks are also vulnerable to outages that, depending on the location, type of facility, or cause of the outage, could have negative consequences for business customers that depend on them. For example, a large volume of traffic is routed through a small number of collocation facilities in Lower Manhattan. Any facilities that are located near the shoreline are at risk of flooding, which happened to some telecommunications facilities during Hurricane Sandy.
Critical Assets
Critical Assets, sometimes referred to as Critical Facilities, are structures that must continue to operate before, during, and after an emergency and/or hazard event and/or are vital to health and safety.
Critical Assets in 100-year & 500-year Floodplains
What is defined as a Critical Asset depends on the context, emergency, or hazard event that it is being considered. For the purposes of communicating the Hazard Environment section, the Critical Assets are defined by the GIS Unit within the context of all hazards related to NYC Emergency Management (NYCEM). However, there may be a Mitigation Action that relates to a Critical Asset that is not documented in the Hazard Environment section. Mitigation Actions are self-reported by agencies, and the Critical Asset question in the Mitigation Actions Database depends on the context of the agency reporting.
Transportation Systems
New York City’s transportation system is sprawling and complex, comprising large, interconnected rail, roadway, air, and waterway networks that are all essential for daily travel and transport. Disruption of this system can dislocate families and prevent commuters from reaching work, disrupting operations of businesses, government agencies, health care providers, and other institutions.
Rail Network
New York City’s commuter and freight rail systems are among the most complex in the country. These interconnected subway and railroad networks carry two-thirds of all rail riders in the United States. Each day, approximately 5.6 million riders commute on New York City’s subways.8Metropolitan Transit Authority, “New York City Transit Key Performance Metrics,” Metropolitan Transit Authority, July 2023.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the nation’s largest transit authority, is run by New York State. MTA operates several main rail systems — New York City Transit, which operates the subway; Long Island Rail Road, which uses Penn Station and Grand Central Madison; and Metro-North Railroad, which uses Grand Central Terminal. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) provides commuter rail service between New Jersey and New York City via PATH trains. Amtrak uses Penn Station, its busiest hub, to link New York City with Amtrak’s national rail system.
New York City’s railway system depends upon electricity for its operation. In fact, the MTA’s subway system alone consumes 1.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year. As such, any disruption in electric generation or distribution may result in a shutdown.
Due to its historical development and to facilitate its operational needs, a significant amount of New York City’s rail and subway infrastructure is either near the waterfront or in low-lying areas. Thus, all rail networks here are vulnerable to storms and to both aboveground and underground floods.
Rail cars operating aboveground are at risk of being tipped over or derailed by high winds. Steel tracks are at risk of shrinking during extremely cold weather and of buckling from extreme heat — two hazardous weather conditions that can cause derailments.
Roadway Network
DOT, MTA, New York State Department of Transportation (NYS DOT), and PANYNJ manage roadway travel in New York City. DOT manages approximately 800 bridges and four tunnels, and maintains over 6,300 miles of streets, 12,700 traffic signals, and numerous sidewalks and retaining walls.9NYC Department of Transportation, NYCStreetsPlan, NYC Department of Transportation, December 1, 2021.
MTA oversees seven bridges and two tunnels used by more than 329 million vehicles each year, and operates 327 bus routes across New York City’s roadways.10Metropolitan Transit Authority, “MTA Bridges and Tunnels,” Metropolitan Transit Authority. PANYNJ manages four bridges and two tunnels between New York and New Jersey, as well as two bus terminals in New York City whose networks transport commuters between these two states.
All roadway infrastructure is vulnerable to hazards such as snow, ice, or rain caused by extreme weather events. In particular, tunnels and low-lying roads are vulnerable to flooding events .
Airports
In 2022, JFK International Airport, LaGuardia Airport in Queens, and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, all operated by PANYNJ, collectively handled a significant volume of air travel. This traffic volume cements these airports as part of the largest air travel market in the world.
Together, these airports support a total of approximately 79,300 jobs and contribute over $88 billion to the New York–New Jersey metropolitan region’s economy. They collectively support more than 437,000 jobs and generate about $37.5 billion in annual wages. As of September 2023, the airports served a combined total of approximately 11,849,565 revenue passengers.11Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Data & Statistics: Airport Traffic Statistics,” Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
PANYNJ has taken steps to enhance the resiliency of these critical transportation hubs against climate risks, including sea level rise and storm surges, as part of an ongoing Climate Risk Assessment (CRA) program. Notable infrastructure modifications have been incorporated into the $19 billion redevelopment of JFK International Airport to mitigate the effects of coastal flooding.12Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, “Climate Resilience,” Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Maritime
PANYNJ is the largest and busiest port complex on the East Coast of the United States. PANYNJ and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), the latter on behalf of the City of New York, manage marine terminals and waterfront facilities throughout the bi-state harbor. Public and private entities hold operating agreements and leases to move freight and people through these waterfront facilities.
In 2022, PANYNJ moved a record 9,493,664 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), solidifying its position as a major hub in global and domestic trade.13Port of New York and New Jersey, “2022 at a Glance,” Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. This activity underscores the port’s significant economic impact, generating over 506,000 regional jobs and moving goods valued at approximately $271 billion.14Port of New York and New Jersey, Capital of Commerce, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
More than 50 piers, docks, and ferry terminals are owned by New York City agencies. Millions of commuters use ferry service between New Jersey and New York City via private and publicly operated vessels as their regular mode of transportation. The Staten Island Ferry, operated by DOT, is the largest commuter ferry in the United States, now making trips for approximately 35,000 passengers on a typical weekday.15NYC Department of Transportation, “Staten Island Ferry Facts,” NYC Department of Transportation.
NYC Ferry operates another small fleet of 150- and 350-passenger ferries on other routes to provide commuters and visitors with transportation among New York City’s boroughs. By 2023, this fleet is expected to transport up to 9 million passengers annually across all five boroughs.
The impact of coastal storms is an obvious risk to New York City’s waterfront operations. Power outages also pose a risk to waterfront operations, which rely upon New York City’s energy and telecommunications systems.
Air and Maritime Transportation
Water Supply
New York City’s drinking water is world-renowned for its high quality. Every day, more than 1 billion gallons of drinking water are delivered to the taps of 10 million customers throughout New York State, including New York City’s 8.8 million residents. This water supply system also provides about 110 million gallons daily to approximately 1 million people living in Westchester, Putnam, Ulster, and Orange counties. In total, this system supplies water to nearly half of New York State’s population.16NYC Department of Environmental Protection, New York City Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report 2021, NYC Department of Environmental Protection.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) manages New York City’s water supply system and ensures the steady flow of clean drinking water from large upstate watersheds. Water is transported to New York City from more than 125 miles away through a complex network of aqueducts and tunnels to in-city reservoirs, as shown on the map above.17NYC Department of Environmental Protection, “Water Supply,” NYC Department of Environmental Protection.
Within New York City, there are 7,000 miles of water mains and pipes that distribute water throughout the five boroughs.18Office of Community Outreach and Notification, How Do We Install the Pipes That Deliver High-Quality Water in the City?, NYC Department of Design and Construction. These mains and pipes are buried and pressurized, which protects them from flooding. Furthermore, there is necessary redundancy built into the system to ensure the constant flow of water.
The distribution system depends almost entirely on gravity, minimizing the need for pumping. Water travels from reservoirs with sufficient pressure to reach up to the sixth floor of most buildings. High-rise buildings rely on rooftop water towers or electrical pump systems to supply water to upper floors. During a power outage, these building pumps lose the ability to pump water to residents.
The adequacy of New York City’s drinking water supply depends on adequate precipitation upstate to fill the reservoirs, continued good water quality, and the continued reliable performance of New York City’s water infrastructure.
Wastewater Treatment
All 14 New York City wastewater plants are located along the waterfront at relatively low elevations. Waterfront locations significantly reduce the cost and environmental impact of treating wastewater in the city, because it is easier for the flow to arrive by gravity and treated effluent to be discharged into waterways. In addition, the waterfront locations allow sludge to be transported efficiently by boat to DEP facilities for additional treatment.
However, these plants are at risk of flooding due to their low elevation. To address this flood risk, DEP developed the NYC Wastewater Resiliency Plan, which identifies cost-effective strategies to reduce flood damage to wastewater infrastructure and to safeguard public health and the environment.19NYC Department of Environmental Protection, NYC Wastewater Resiliency Plan: Climate Risk Assessment and Adaptation Study, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, October 2013.
Under normal conditions, the wastewater system is fully able to treat the combined volume of New York City’s sewage and stormwater. But when heavy rain or snowmelt swells that volume to more than double a plant’s dry-weather capacity, the combined sewer overflows (CSOs) — the mix of excess stormwater and untreated sewage — flow directly into the waterways.
Over many years, New York City has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure to reduce CSO events. New York City’s Green Infrastructure Plan and its annual updates identify the progress being made on using natural and low-tech features around the city to absorb rain and snowmelt. New York City’s Bluebelt Program complements this effort. Natural drainage corridors are built to slow the water’s flow and use vegetation or other elements to absorb and filter impurities.
Emergency Facilities
New York City’s emergency services include the New York City Police Department (NYPD), New York City Fire Department (FDNY), New York City Fire Department Emergency Medical Services (FDNY-EMS), and NYCEM. Other City agencies that have emergency-response functions include the New York City Department of Health and Mental Health (DOHMH), DEP, and DOB.
Emergency services are generally well dispersed across the New York City and correlate with population density. The map shows the locations of police and fire stations and NYCEM’s headquarters.
Count of Emergency Facilities
| Facility | Count |
|---|---|
| Fire Stations | 226 |
| Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Stations | 79 |
| Police Stations | 77 |
| Hospitals | 62 |
Healthcare Facilities
New York City has one of the greatest concentrations of health care facilities in the country, with 78 acute care hospitals,20NYC Open Data, “Hospitals,” City of New York. 169 nursing homes,21NursingHomes.com, “Nursing Homes in New York, NY,” NursingHomes.com. and 312 adult day care centers.22NYC Department for the Aging, “Find Services: Aging Connect,” NYC Department for the Aging. New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation (H+H) operates 11 hospitals, five post-acute/long-term care centers, seven community health centers, and 28 neighborhood health clinics.23NYC Health and Hospitals, “Locations,” NYC Health and Hospitals.
At any given time, some 1,400 residential-based providers are caring for more than 80,000 patients in nursing homes and other facilities, offering treatment, care, and supportive housing for individuals with substance abuse problems, developmental disabilities, and other behavioral or mental health challenges.
Community-based health care providers operate from over 10,000 buildings across the five boroughs. During and after emergencies, these facilities and pharmacies function as critical assets. Hurricane Sandy demonstrated the vulnerability of New York City health care institutions when storm surge from the East River flooded adjacent hospital buildings, which had to be evacuated. Patients are at risk if health care workers cannot get to work during an emergency because transportation systems have been disrupted.
Hospitals are major consumers of energy, depending on continual power for basic heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, and hot water, and to operate sophisticated medical equipment and sterilization units. Hospitals also require power for refrigeration, laundry, kitchens, and to maintain and access digital health records. During Hurricane Sandy, flooded hospital backup generators were unable to supply power for critical operations.
Educational and Research Institutions
New York City has more than 2,700 accredited educational institutions, including over 100 colleges and universities, approximately 850 private schools, and 1,800 public schools including 275 charter schools.24NYC Public Schools, “DOE Data at a Glance,” NYC Department of Education. The faculty, scholars, and researchers at these colleges, universities, and research institutions represent intellectual capital that is an invaluable asset to the vibrancy of New York City.
As per the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) by the United States Census Bureau, around 1.2 million K–12 students are enrolled in New York City’s private and public schools. This figure increases to approximately 2 million when including nursery, pre-K, undergraduate, and graduate students. Besides their educational role, public schools in New York City are also used as emergency shelters during hazard events, serving a dual function in public safety.
Food Supply System
Most of the food New Yorkers consume is produced far beyond the city’s borders. Approximately 99 percent of the food supply’s last-mile delivery is by truck. The truck traffic across New York City’s four bridges and two tunnels brings over 50 percent of New York City’s food volume.
The Hunts Point Food Distribution Center in the South Bronx, the largest produce market by revenue in the world, is the epicenter of New York City’s food network. Twelve percent of all food distributed to New York City comes from the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center.25NYC Economic Development Corporation, “Hunts Point Peninsula,” NYC Economic Development Corporation.
According to the Five Borough Food Flow study, approximately 19 billion pounds of food is distributed annually in New York City through approximately 42,000 point-of-sale outlets.26Alexina Cather, “Prior to the Plate: Last Mile Food Distribution in New York City,” Hunter College New York City Food Policy Center, (New York: Hunter College, April 5, 2017). The majority of these outlets are independent restaurants and cafes. Perishable and non-perishable food items are distributed through supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, over 10,000 independent bodegas, farmers markets, food coops, restaurants, nonprofit meal delivery services, soup kitchens, food pantries, and street vendors. The food supply also reaches institutional kitchens in hospitals, public and private schools, universities and colleges, prisons, and senior centers. As an indication of this volume, New York City’s institutional kitchens have a food budget estimated to be second only to the food budget of the U.S. military.
New York City’s highly decentralized, large-scale retail food supply network depends upon the smooth operation of the critical transportation infrastructure — roads, bridges, and tunnels — and the availability of liquid fuel.27NYC Department of Transportation, Improving the Efficiency of Truck Deliveries in NYC, NYC Department of Transportation, April 2019.
A steady supply of power is also essential to providing New Yorkers with their food. Approximately 46 percent of the food supply is perishable, and therefore requires infrastructure for refrigeration or freezing. Wholesale and retail food operations depend upon power to run small- and medium-sized equipment, lighting, inventory tracking systems, cash registers, and ATM machines, and to carry out other electronic transactions.
A steady power supply is required for telecommunications between distributors and retailers and for processing transactions for low-income residents who use New York City’s Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards to purchase food via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called “food stamps”).