In Morningside Park, a Restored Waterfall, a Renewed Pond, and a Blueprint for Climate-Resilient Public Space
A park restoration project led by Columbia faculty held a celebration to mark successes and demonstrate next steps.
Leaders from Columbia and New York City’s Department of Parks & Recreation gathered in Morningside Park on Friday to celebrate a major partnership to clear the park’s pond of toxic algal blooms, repair broken water pumps, and restore its iconic waterfall. For the first time in seven years (other than brief testing periods), the waterfall sprang to life, and a stream of water sprayed over a wall of rocks before cascading into the pond below.
The event was part of a project, initiated last year, that aims to use Columbia’s expertise to restore Morningside Park’s waterfall and pond, and to make New York City’s parks more resilient in the face of climate change. The project brings together faculty from Columbia’s Climate School and Engineering School with a roster of partners from other Columbia schools, as well as members of the community. It aims to address issues affecting the pond in Morningside Park, and to provide a climate resilience blueprint for public parks in New York City and worldwide. The project focuses in particular on protecting parks from the effects of torrential downpours that have become more commonplace in recent years as a result of climate change.
“We’re very proud to celebrate this innovative, interdisciplinary project from our faculty and students,” said Columbia University Interim President Katrina Armstrong. “Their work underscores Columbia’s commitment to research and scholarship that engages local partners, strengthens the capacity of local government, and improves the experiences of our neighbors in Morningside Heights and across upper Manhattan.”
“This is the first step in the restoration of one of the most picturesque spots in Manhattan parks. The sound of the waterfall is almost magical, drawing people into this scenic landmark park. We’re excited to have successfully collaborated with Columbia on this project, and are especially thankful to the engineering faculty and students who figured out how to get the waterfall working again and made it happen,” said New York City Parks Borough Commissioner Tricia Shimamura. “We are now looking forward to working with Columbia’s Climate School to resolve the problem with the harmful algal blooms in the pond. This initiative underscores our unwavering commitment to environmental stewardship and the health of our city’s ecosystems.”
“Morningside Park’s waterfall and pond are beloved by the community members who enjoy them every day,” said Brad Taylor, President of Friends of Morningside Park, Inc. “We’re thrilled that they’ve been lovingly and expertly restored, and look forward to a continued partnership with Columbia to ensure that our park stays healthy and green for years to come.”
United States Congressman Adriano Espaillat, New York State Senator Cordell Cleare, and New York City Councilmember Shaun Abreu all delivered remarks at the event. Columbia's Chief Climate & Sustainability Officer, Daniel Zarrilli; Vice Provost for the Fourth Purpose and Strategic Impact, Sam Sia; Columbia College student Grace Fitzgerald; and the project's leaders, professors Adrian Brügger and Joaquim Goes, also spoke.
An Interdisciplinary Project With Research Goals and Neighborhood Ties
The current project is led by Adrian Brügger, a Columbia professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics, and Joaquim Goes, a professor at Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Brügger has used engineering insights to restore major infrastructure, including the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul. Goes, an expert in ocean biochemistry, has studied toxic blooms of algae across the world, including the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean and in Long Island Sound.
Morningside Park’s pond was built in 1989 in a crater that was created in order to make room for a planned Columbia gymnasium, a project that was abandoned after it sparked major student protests. Though the pond has become a beloved hangout for many, its water pumps failed about seven years ago, and the pond has become a hotbed for algae blooms, which thrive in summer heat, and pose a risk to pets and children. In stagnant bodies of freshwater in New York City and beyond it, the problem of such algae is growing worse with climate change.
In addition to its scientific goals, the partnership focuses on engaging the community, including through learning opportunities for local students. Since the project kicked off in earnest last fall, students from New York City public schools have joined as volunteer researchers. They are monitoring algae conditions in the pond and analyzing both the species of algae that are present and their numbers, which have been continuously changing since they began their work in the fall of 2023. They have also begun isolating some of these species for laboratory experiments.
A kickoff event for Columbia’s park restoration project was held in July 2023. Speaking at that event, Minouche Shafik, then the president of Columbia University, cited the project as essential to the University’s mission of applying “academic expertise to real world problems,” and creating “partnerships with individuals, our community, and organizations beyond the academy.”
Demonstrating the Project's Successes and Next Steps
After a series of remarks at Friday's event, the researchers working on the project provided demonstrations of the technology that they have developed since the project kickoff.
The waterfall pump repair was performed by faculty, staff, and students of the Carleton Laboratory of Columbia Engineering. Brügger led the effort, working with senior laboratory engineer Amos Fishman-Resheff, and Engineering students Sophia Hann, Erica Kyle, and Angelina Wu. The students designed a state-of-the-art motor controller that will allow the city’s parks department to regulate the waterflow and track the pumps’ health as they run.
Professor Marco Giometto and his team from Columbia’s Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Department demonstrated a state-of-the-art drone, which they plan to use to survey the ecosystems across all New York City parks. During reconnaissance sessions, the team plans to fly the drone to detect algal blooms and natural water springs, and to create a 3D map of the tree canopy to understand tree health and microclimates created by the parks. The team aims to deploy this drone to parks citywide in the upcoming years to review the health of New York City’s other watersheds. Using this data, the team can quantify the economic and societal contribution of parks on the built environment. Professor Goes’s group—which includes Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory research scientist Helga Gomes; Columbia College student Grace Fitzgerald; and Chloe Kim, a student from Stuyvesant High School, and participant in Columbia University's Science Honors Program (SHP)—have developed a non-toxic mineral blend that they believe could help control the pond’s algae by starving it of the nutrients that it needs to grow. In the weeks leading up to the event, the team placed special water-permeable floating bags into the pond.
The bags were designed and fabricated in a partnership with the Design Center at Barnard, a collaboration facilitated by Barnard Professor Sandra Goldmark, who is also senior assistant dean for interdisciplinary engagement at the Climate School. At Friday's event, the researchers demonstrated how algae that had soaked in pond water and the mineral blend in the floating bags had fared. Within three days of application of the natural mineral blend, the harmful algal species began showing signs of mortality; starved of nutrients, the dead algae began to sink to the bottom of the bags.
After further testing of the mineral blend’s effectiveness, the researchers will embark on a next phase, testing an autonomous boat developed by Columbia Engineering students led by Cody O’Ferrall and Minju O’Rourke. The boat will eventually be able to navigate park ponds on its own, identifying the onset of algal blooms, and releasing a spray of the mineral blend to target them. Though Morningside Park is a relatively small and navigable pond, the boat will prove particularly useful in large ponds like those in Central Park. The team eventually hopes to deploy the boat in parks around the city.