The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is embarking on a 10-year $1.38 billion project to remove toxins from the lower eight miles of the Passaic River. The project will remove about 3.5 million cubic yards of poisonous sediment–enough to fill Newark’s Red Bull Arena about three times over.
“The Passaic River has been seriously damaged by over a century of pollution. Extraordinarily high concentrations of dioxin, PCBs, heavy metals and pesticides have robbed the people of New Jersey from being able to use this natural resource. The EPA’s cleanup plan will improve water quality, protect public health, revitalize waterfront areas and create hundreds of new jobs. This plan is one of the most comprehensive in the nation and will help restore a badly damaged river,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator.
The lower eight miles of the Passaic is the most heavily contaminated section of the river. Ninety percent of the volume of contaminated sediment is in the area targeted for clean up.
EPA expects the program to take four years to plan and six years to execute. It will affect an area running from Newark Bay to the Belleville-Newark border. The agency intends to cap the bottom of the river with sand to prevent any remaining pollution from leaching back into the waterway.
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