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By Colin Mixson<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Paper<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
They primed the pump!<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Botanic Garden bigwigs unveiled a sprawling new wetlands area on Sept. 15 — part of the park’s innovative new water circulation system that its honchos claim will save more than 21 million gallons of H20 per year. <\/p>\n
Forgoing the standard ribbon-cutting ceremony, officials unveiled the Shelby White and Leon Levy Water Garden by pouring buckets of water into its pond and releasing a turtle to make its new home there.<\/p>\n
The garden is an attraction in its own right, offering one-and-a-half football fields’ worth of space containing thousands of new trees, shrubs, bulbs, ferns, and unusual species of flora including the black tupelo tree, which blazes a vibrant red in the fall.<\/p>\n
But the green space is also the first phase of a system that circulates liquid around other water features in the park — including the pond in the beloved Japanese garden — via a series of brooks and underground pumps.<\/p>\n
It will give garden staff a lot of control over the park’s fresh water stores — including the ability to retain liquid when storms hit so it doesn’t run off into the city’s sewage system.<\/p>\n
The garden officials are aiming to finish the entire conservation system sometime in 2018.<\/p>\n
Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.<\/p>\n
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