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New York is set to open the world’s largest ultraviolet (UV) drinking water disinfection plant in two months in order to rid the city’s drinking water of cryptosporidium, giardia and other harmful pathogens. The Catskill–Delaware Ultraviolet Disinfection Facility will be equipped with 56 massive UV units which will be used to kill waterborne pathogens in water from the city’s major sources – the Delaware County and Catskill watersheds. When it is activated in two months, the plant will process up to nine billion liters of H2O daily.

Read more: NYC To Open World’s Biggest Ultraviolet Water-Cleaning Plant | Inhabitat New York City

Predicated on increasingly specific information, contemporary culture continues to perceptually reinvent itself through novel integration, expression and representation of information.  The perceptual degree to which it actually is changing has been, in large part, become simultaneously empowering and deceptively exploited. There are extensive and growing numbers of resources that are designed to track all conditions acting on a ‘site’ – site being topological, physiological or psychological.  Simply put the ambitions behind tracking all of these ‘conditions’ [orbiting] can vary from concern for public safety and security to, conversely, concern for the safety and security of economic and political interests [orbited].  Although the development and deployment of tracking technology is also controlled by these ambitions, the empowerment they provide also operate under varying levels of agency and transparency.

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There is evidence—stuff that exists. The stuff exists, but it doesn’t matter to anyone, except perhaps to the thing that created it. And in that case, it has only a singular meaning for that individual.

The original creator of the evidence does not matter. What matters is the meaning given to the evidence (and, perhaps, by extension its creator) through observation and subsequent reconstruction by the detective. The evidence only has meaning to the detective once it is traced by him. The act of tracing, or constructing meaning, transubstantiates the evidence into trace.

Tracing is a process of discovery. The revelation of meaning through observation and construction exists in the process; it does not inhere in the evidence. The tools that the detective uses for tracing—the decoding machine, translation device, the scope—shapes the meaning. So does the mind or hand that wields it. The observer is not passive behind the scope; his eye is inseparable from it, fused in the relation of tool and mind.

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Newark’s proximity to the sea and the Passaic river basin has resulted in repeated flooding due to river overflows and heavy storms. Annual expected damages in the basin due to flooding are over $161,000,000 and there have been 10 federal disaster declarations in the last 42 years. Since 1900, 26 lives have been lost, $6 billion dollars in damages and if a flood equivalent to the one in1903 was to happen again it would result in over $2,240,000,000 in damages.

Sea level rise is a reality that is and will continue to impact Newark’s coastline.   Recent studies of sea level rise along the New Jersey coast show a rise of 3 to 4 mm/yr, however this number is predicted to double in the near future and continue to rise due to global warming. In addition to its location, the engineered nature of a large area of Newark’s land has become a cause of concern considering the hazards posed by sea level rise and severe coastal storms.

Increasingly it is being recognized that engineered shoreline stabilization is economically inefficient  and ultimately only a short term solution.  Instead, flexible adaptation strategies that recognize and plan for the dynamic nature of coastlines should be promoted.

Can Newark’s imminent  flooding and sea level rise be turned into a controlled system that redefines Newark’s geography and becomes the framework from which a restructured and rehabilitated city will emerge?
Newark’s continuing rise in water, will ultimately affect how people move, how they interact and how they communicate. This will result in a general restructuring of the city and its communities. Through specific and controlled interventions the city’s geography can be modified to suit a landscape with rising water levels while simultaneously reshaping Newark’s urban fabric.

The creation of a controlled and interconnected system of bodies of water throughout specific areas (those most in need of restructuring due to high crime rates, high number of vacant lots, and lack of open space and education) will give Newark the opportunity to evolve and gradually restructure itself as the water level rises. This will not only provide a preventive system for water level rise, it will also provide the opportunity for a new beginning where the city becomes a living memory of what it once was, and of what it now is.

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Drawing upon Debord’s theory of detournement to subvert convention, a new significance can arise for the city. The proposed new industries would heavily draw upon old methods to incorporate global efficiency, however contextually they would act and appear very different. By redefining the purpose, scale and location of the distribution centers, improved social values would be established for the Newark’s citizens.

To remedy the crisis of isolated and inefficient distribution, a seamless infrastructural network would need to optimize the areas transportation system creating a link between local and industrial zones, while supporting spaces for new distribution centers to be conceived. This redefinition would enable the worker to realize their skill potential in a way that provides tangible improvements to the city in the realm of their trade. The proposed factory network would be made possible by remediation of the polluted media. The acting prototype would monitor vapor and detect the given parameters, finally to respond by remediation. This would ultimately clean the land in order to enable utilization and allow for growth.

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