2 APRIL 22, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Feds approve city’s water quality control plan for Newtown Creek
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
While a who’s-who of Queens elected offi cials
and community leaders gathered atop the
new $55 million Kosciuszko Bridge for its
ribbon cutting ceremony in April 2017, the event
presented a dichotomy of the borough’s present
alongside its past.
Yards away from the VIP crowd was the rusting
hulk of the original span that was awaiting its
controlled demolition, high above an even greater
example of the region’s industrial past, Newtown
Creek.
The tidal estuary of the East River that forms the
border between much of Queens and Brooklyn, is also
one of the nation’s most polluted waterways. Since
the mid-1800s, the area along its 11 miles of banks
alongside the creek was one of the busiest hubs of
industrial activity in New York City with more than
50 oil refi neries petrochemical plants, fertilizer and
glue factories, saw mills, and coal yards all dumping
waste into the body of water that was declared a
Superfund site more than a decade ago.
Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
has determined that Newtown Creek’s water quality
is consistent with the goals of the federal program, issuing
a “Record of Decision” that evaluated impacts of
the current and expected future volume of combined
sewer overfl ow (CSO) discharges into the Superfund
site.
The decision lays out in detail why federal regulators
concluded that the city’s “Long Term Control
Plan” to improve the water quality of Newtown Creek
is anticipated to be consistent with meeting the needs
The Superfund site along Newtown Creek is currently meeting water quality control criteria
established by federal regulators. Photo courtesy of the governor’s offi ce
of the Superfund program.
“EPA’s Record of Decision” recognizes the signifi cant
reductions in CSO discharges to Newtown Creek that
will result from implementation of the Long TermControl
Plan, and we have concluded that further volume
reductions are not required under the Superfund
program,” EPA Acting Regional Administrator Walter
Mugdan said. “EPA will continue to closely monitor the
site and will implement additional actions to address
the impacts of CSO discharges on the creek if needed
to fulfi ll the comprehensive cleanup of the site.”
The EPA continues to direct a very detailed investigation
of the contamination in the creek and a study
of the feasible options to address that contamination
as the state moves forward with plans for public park
space on the Queens and Brooklyn banks along Newtown
Creek. These studies are being conducted under
EPA’s oversight by a consortium of parties that are
potentially responsible for the contamination.
The studies are expected to be completed in 2023
and are expected to lead to a proposal by EPA of a
cleanup plan for the entire creek.
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