Photo Credit: Leah Rae/Riverkeeper
A Great Egret perching in front of an array of trash that litters the Bronx River
Stretching 23 miles from its source at the Kensico Reservoir to its mouth in New York City, the Bronx River is one of the environmental staples of Westchester and southern New York. Home to a range of iconic species such as the Common Snapping Turtle and the North American Beaver, the river is crucial for biodiversity in the Hudson Valley and New York’s Atlantic Coast; however, in the past century, the river and the wildlife it contains have faced a threat which so often endangers urban and suburban waterways—water pollution.
Due to contaminated runoff containing harmful chemicals and litter, the Bronx River has faced a significant amount of pollution in the past 150 years. This issue first came into the attention of the public and the government towards the end of the 19th century, when the river, “black with filth” and a “dumping grounds for all sorts of refuse”, became a threat to local wildlife and public health.
One significant source of the river’s pollution was a sewage disposal plant in White Plains near the Scarsdale border, as its sewage frequently overflowed into the river and prompted complaints of a terrible stench from many Scarsdale residents. In 1904, Frederick Van Wyck of the Scarsdale Town Club realized that the river had been unnaturally straightened in the 19th century to increase waterpower, and this meant the sewage disposal facility was actually built on Scarsdale’s land. After threatening to have the plant closed, Van Wyck convinced White Plains to back both the construction of a new, less faulty sewer system and the Bronx River Parkway Plan.
After requests from the New York Zoological Society, in April of 1905, a commission was appointed by the New York Legislature to solve the problem of pollution in the river, and in 1907 the legislature passed the Bronx River Parkway Plan. The bill established a reservation on both sides of the river to stop pollution and laid out plans for a parkway to be built parallel to the river, with a trunk sewer running under the parkway. Construction began in 1913 and the parkway plan was a resounding success. According to the Bronxville Review in 1920, “pollution [had] been entirely eliminated from the river, so that it [was] used by thousands of bathers”.
Photo Credit: Westchester County Archives
Construction of the Bronx River Parkway, 4 November 1917 (top) and children swimming and canoeing in the Bronx River, 4 August 1916 (bottom)
However, problems arose once again in 1924 when bathing pools on the Bronx River were closed “due almost entirely to the pollution” from Davis Brook in White Plains. Though Davis Brook’s contaminating flow into the Bronx was eventually blocked, problems with pollution accumulated in the next five decades, and pollution in the Bronx River was once again a major issue by the 1970s.
In 1974, a study conducted by the office of environmental education of the New York Botanical Gardens found that there was a significant amount of nitrates and phosphates in the Bronx River, indicating the river was contaminated at several points by raw sewage. The Botanical Gardens’ study concluded that the source of the pollution was most likely the flow of sewage into storm drains that fed into the river. Since the Davis Brook contamination of the river in 1924, there had been no extensive monitoring of pollutant levels, which allowed for this pollution to go unnoticed until much of the southern section of the river was unsuitable for recreational bathing.
Photo Credit: Library of Congress
Bronx River with #5 line in back, Bronx, 1970
The call for environmental action to decontaminate the Bronx River led to the establishment of the Bronx River Restoration Project in 1974. This project undertook the Bronx River Restoration Master Plan in the 1980s, which sought to turn the areas surrounding the banks of the river into a waterfront park, known as the Bronx River Greenway, stretching from Valhalla to the Bronx. Restoration projects continued into the 1990s under the Bronx River Working Group, as the National Guard of New York State, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, and many other organizations helped to clean up the river and restore its natural beauty.
In 2000, the Bronx River Working Group gave way to the Bronx River Alliance, which has been at the forefront of environmental restoration in Westchester County in the past two decades. They are continuing the aforementioned Bronx River Greenway plan, and are also carrying out the Bronx River Intermunicipal Watershed Plan, which seeks to streamline eco-friendly management of the Bronx River Watershed, along with the Ecological Restoration and Management Plan, which is rehabilitating the river’s biodiversity and water quality. The alliance accomplishes these plans with help from over 1500 annual volunteers. The alliance’s website, with information on volunteering opportunities, can be found here: https://bronxriver.org/
Other recent allies of the river’s protection are congressman José Serrano, who acquired nearly $15 million of US government funding for the restoration of the river, and the Bronx River Watershed Coalition, which has implemented plans to prevent the pollution of stormwater and improve water quality.
Although it has been a long time coming, the restoration of the Bronx River is an example of a successful environmental rehabilitation project that can be used as a blueprint for waterway restorations in the future. The Bronx River Greenway is frequently described as one of Westchester County’s most appealing landmarks and local biodiversity is thriving. In order to maintain these positive trends in environmental health, it is crucial that each Westchester citizen plays their part in preventing water pollution.
Some non-disruptive actions you can take to ensure the health of local waters:
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Avoid using fertilizers. When necessary, apply fertilizers only on grassy areas—remove any that gets onto the street. Also, avoid applying fertilizers before rainstorms.
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Never dispose of chemicals or cleaning agents down the toilet, down the sink drain, or into the street. If chemicals are spilled onto a driveway or the street, use litter or sand to absorb the chemicals instead of hosing it down, so it doesn’t flow into storm drains and contaminate runoff.
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Dispose of any leaves in your yard properly—do not rake them into the street, as this can clog and flood storm drains.
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Only dispose of toilet paper in toilets. Do not flush any tissues or rags.
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Minimize the amount of soaps and detergents used per load in your dishwasher and washing machine, use phosphate-free soaps and detergents, and only wash clothes and dishes when you have a full load.
Sources
https://bronxriver.org/restoration-access/about-the-river
https://www.nycgovparks.org/highlights/bronx-river-greenway/then-and-now
https://bronxriver.org/restoration-access/restoring-the-ecology
https://www.loc.gov/item/2018645228/
https://fordhamobserver.com/69209/recent/news/a-deeper-dive-into-the-bronx-river/
https://archives.westchestergov.com/bronx-river
https://raleighnc.gov/stormwater/6-ways-prevent-water-pollution
https://nowthisnews.com/news/bronx-river-alliance-common-good