Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Water water everywhere
Please, someone explain to me why the subways and trains have become so much less able to handle rain this last year. There's been heavy rain before (can you say hurricane?) and sometimes even torrential rain, but the subways didn't get flooded every time. Out in the ex-urbs and sub-urbs, part of the explanation is that new houses are equipped with built-in sump pumps and dehumidifiers that send water back out to the surrounding lawns and fields, leaving them unable to absorb much more when it rains. Okay, that explains new housing developments and maybe even a bit of the newly high water table in small towns. But it doesn't explain New York City where individuals aren't building mcmansions with sump pumps, for heaven's sake. Is it all about infrastructure become less and less resilient? Is the core of the earth becoming saturated for some reason and, as a consequence, the space and dirt between the core and the cities has less room (yes, I know that's ridiculous)? I'm sure GWB caused this, or maybe Kevin Bacon, but basically I'd like to understand what really has happened.
P.S. Check out this new contest - for those of you who are enjoying (wrong word) the debate about global warming.
P.S. Check out this new contest - for those of you who are enjoying (wrong word) the debate about global warming.
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