Mayor de Blasio has announced a major expansion of New York City’s Green Infrastructure Program. The City has already begun construction of more than 5,000 specially designed curbside rain gardens in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, building upon the more than 4,000 rain gardens that have already been built.

This construction will bring a total of more than 9,000 curbside rain gardens to New York City, helping to prevent flooding and reduce Combined Sewer Overflows into local waterways by more than 500 million gallons each year, thereby further improving the health of New York Harbor and its tributaries.

“We are deploying all of the resources at our disposal to tackle the challenge of global warming head-on,” said de Blasio. “We are doubling the size of the largest green infrastructure program in the country, creating green oases in our neighborhoods and protecting our waterways for all New Yorkers to enjoy.”