What's Under Your Feet in New York City?

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Brittle cast-iron and vitrified-clay pipes make repairs beneath New York streets especially delicate.
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New York once delivered mail through a 27-mile pneumatic-tube network that closed in the 1950s.
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New York’s orange street smokestacks divert steam from leaks or groundwater-heated pipes away from pedestrians until repairs are made.
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Inside a steam pipe, condensed water can become high-speed slugs. Steam traps remove the water while keeping the steam.
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New York City’s water supply is largely gravity-fed from higher-elevation upstate sources and needs no filtration thanks to protected watersheds.
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New York’s redundant underground power network is exceptionally reliable, yet its costly design helps produce some of America’s highest electricity prices.
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New York is reducing sewer overflows with curbside rain gardens and massive underground retention tanks like the one at Newton Creek.
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New York has three primary tunnels bringing fresh water into the city from upstate.
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New York’s utilities lack standardization after more than a century of incremental, customized construction.
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Water-main pressure protects drinking water by forcing leaks outward instead of letting polluted surroundings enter the pipe.
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New York City has the world’s largest district steam-heating network, concentrated mainly in Manhattan and serving about 1,500 customers.
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Sewers run deeper because gravity needs a downward slope, and placing them below water lines helps protect fresh water.
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New York’s steam lines are insulated and buried deeper than other utilities to keep heat away from streets and gas lines.
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New York can continue combined sewer overflows without fines only under a consent decree requiring a plan to eliminate them.
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New York’s steam utility reaches beyond heat and hot water into hospitals, restaurants, dry cleaners, and air conditioning.
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A large share of New York City buildings and households uses natural gas for heating, cooking, and hot water.

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