With another stretch of summer heat pushing air conditioners into overdrive, environmentalists are questioning whether New York’s electrical systems can withstand a drastically warming climate.
The concern goes beyond keeping the lights on. Electricity powers hospitals, subways, and drinking water and wastewater plants alike. Environmentalists say the July 4 failure at the Yonkers Joint Wastewater Treatment Plant, which sent tens of millions of gallons of partially treated wastewater into the Hudson River, according to Westchester County, showed what happens when that infrastructure is pushed to its limits.
Robert Fanuzzi, president of the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality, called it a warning, saying hotter summers and a growing population mean demand for power increasingly tests the systems everyone depends on. He believes New York is entering an era in which rising demand for power could increasingly test the resilience of its infrastructure…