Lower Passaic River Restoration Project

Meiyin WU (Montclair, USA): Passaic River runs through 80 miles of urban and suburban landscape with a drainage basin of 935 square miles across over 120 municipalities in 7 New Jersey and 2 New York counties. Approximately 2.5 million people inhibit the river basin, most of which is in the highly urbanized area. Since the 1800’s, urbanization and industrialization have negatively impacted the river, its quality, and its ecosystem structure and function. The 17 river miles of Lower Passaic River is considered one of the most highly polluted waterways in the United States due to raw sewage, chemical discharge along with byproducts, surface runoff, and industrial outfall. Water and sediments of the Lower Passaic contain a myriad of chemical contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins, mercury, etc. This presentation will discuss environmental history and management of the Passaic River to illustrate challenges of managing urban rivers.