The skum that floats on the surface doesn’t come close to the bottom layer.
Industrial waste and the city’s sewage system overflow naming Newtown Creek one of the nation’s most polluted neighborhoods.
Story by: Ashley Gerken
The filth runs through an area of working-class homes, warehouses and industrial lots straddling Brooklyn and Queens.
The creek’s bottom is lined with about a 15-foot-layer of pollutants.
“What was originally a watershed is now a sewage shed,” said John Lipscomb. He is an environmentalist of the Riverkeeper cleanwater advocacy group.
History of Newtown Creek
The Rockefellers operated the nation’s first refineries on the banks in the late 1800s.
Factories and commercial vessels were starting to make fertilizers, chemicals, lumber and glue. Their waste was leaking or being dumped into the creek. The first incident of disaster was on Oct. 5, 1950, petroleum gases seeped into the sewer and caught fire. Three people were injured.
Clean up in the neighborhood
Things that can be found in the overflow include:
- Soda Cans
- Plastic Bottles
- Raw sewage
- Decaying Food
- Human Waste
- Petroleum
There is a plan of small steps to clean up, but it could take at least a dozen years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Scientists are using sonar to probe the muck in the 3.5-mile waterway.
It will be financed by Exxon Mobil, Texaco Inc., the Phelps Dodge Refining Corp., BP Products North America Inc., National Grid NY and the city of New York.
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