Hear from Willis Elkins, Executive Director of Newtown Creek Alliance, and Ron Weissbard, Director of Superfund and Hazardous Materials at NYC Department of Environmental Protection, about about the history and future of Newtown Creek, while taking in unique views of the creek’s continuously evolving waterfronts.
Newtown Creek, on the border between Brooklyn and Queens, has been a center for industrial activity since the early 1800s—and has been a dumping ground for pollutants and hazardous material for just as long. Once a vibrant marshland, the Creek suffered nearly 150 years of unregulated industrial waste, sewage discharge, and oil spills from the refineries that lined its banks.
Through tremendous efforts by community advocates and investment by federal, state, and city governments, planning for the remediation of Newtown Creek is underway. The US Environmental Protection Agency designated the creek as a Superfund site, and recently finalized a plan for dredging and stabilizing its contaminated sediment.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) largest wastewater resource recovery facility is on the Newtown Creek waterfront, and it treats the wastewater of over a million New Yorkers, safeguarding the Newtown Creek and the East River. DEP continues to invest in the health of the creek and is currently designing a massive tunnel that can hold up to 50 million gallons of sewage and stormwater that would otherwise overflow into the creek during rainstorms.
This program is part of Water Works, a new yearlong series exploring the city’s water systems and our connections to water. The series is produced with lead agency partner NYC Department of Environmental Protection and with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.