Passaic River

Welcome to the lower Passaic River Phase I Removal Action website. Here you will find an overview of the Phase I work to be performed in 2011 and 2012 near Lister Avenue in Newark, New Jersey. You can also view the latest news and updates, learn about measures to protect community health and safety, and contact our community hotline for questions or concerns.

Project Activities

As a step forward in the cleanup and restoration of the lower Passaic River, approximately 40,000 cubic yards of sediment material (the upper-most 12 feet of material) will be removed near the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site. The materials will be dewatered nearby and then transported in sealed containers by rail to out-of-state treatment or disposal facilities. Excavated areas will be backfilled with clean fill/sand to return the river in the work area to its original depth. Site preparation and construction activities are currently underway, with sediment removal operations planned to begin spring 2012. All Phase I work is expected to be complete and project facilities dismantled by the end of 2012.

Work activities are conducted under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) oversight, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Monitoring before and during material removal will be conducted to verify that the project is progressing as designed.

Removal Action Operations

Sediment RemovalSediment Removal

As illustrated above, the Phase I Removal Action project involves several steps. During removal operations, approximately 500 cubic yards of sediment material will be excavated each day. Debris will be removed, and water added to the remaining material so it can be pumped via in-river hydraulic pipeline directly to the nearby Upland Processing Facility.

Equipment at the Upland Processing Facility will remove and treat water from excavated sediment materials, as well as stormwater collected from the active work area. Dewatered materials will be placed in lined and sealed containers for transport along a designated truck route 1.5 miles south to Brills Yard, where the containers will be loaded onto rail cars for transport by train to out-of-state treatment or disposal facilities.

The Removal Action Process

The Removal Action Process

For an additional overview of the project, download the U.S. EPA summary factsheet.

Detailed project documents are maintained at the www.ourpassaic.org website.