NY Botanical Garden Welcomes New Wetland

The Bluebelt wetland in the New York Botanical Garden will store and filter rain water from Southern Boulevard.

Gregory Long, the New York Botanical Garden Chief Executive Officer, says the new basin will keep polluted rain water out of the Garden's lakes and the Bronx River.

During an hour of heavy rain fall, the wetland will be able to handle 350,000 gallons of water.

Carter Strickland is the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. He says it's important to use storm water as a resource.

"I think as the rest of the country struggles through a drought, we're very fortunate to have water," he says, "We need to use it wisely."

One of the ways they'll use the rain water is to water the Garden's plants.

Construction of the project took 10 weeks and was funded by the Department of Environmental Protection.