Proposal to OK swimming in notoriously polluted Harlem River won't stop 2B gallons of sewage from being dumped there: activists
Bronx activists are fuming that a proposal aimed at opening up the notoriously polluted Harlem River to swimming won't do anything to keep raw sewage from being dumped there.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation said it wants to make the most polluted waterway in the city — and possibly all of New York — clean enough for swimmers to be able to take a dip in it.
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But clean water activists are boiling mad about the effort, claiming the DEC's plan will effectively lock in poor quality standards, continuing to allow nearly 2 billion gallons of raw sewage to spill into the river every year.
3 An estimated 1.9 billion of raw sewage is dumped into the Harlem River every year.
The Harlem River's current classification, 'Class I,' means it only needs to be clean enough to allow for 'secondary contact recreation,' like boating and fishing.
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The crux of the activists' outrage lies with a proposal released by the DEC in April to reclassify the river as a 'wet weather (WW) limited use' waterbody — that could allow swimming there on so-called dry days.
When it rains, the river routinely gets flooded with raw sewage and other pollutants because the overstrained systems cannot handle the additional stormwater, according to environmental advocates.
As a result, the activists are calling out state and city officials for the plan to open up the river to swimming — without investing time and money into overhauling the Bronx's outdate sewage systems that overflow when it rains.
It would cost around $9 billion to fix the outdated 'Combined Sewer Overflows' systems, which the DEC has ruled too costly.
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'By using an all or nothing argument to sewage pollution reduction, the city and state are attempting to justify maintaining the status quo of poor water quality for the Harlem River generations to come, and that improving water quality really is not all or nothing effort,' Ruby said.
'They're trying to say this is an upgrade when it's not,' argued Ruby. 'They're not proposing to do pollution reduction. This 'reclassification' is going to take generations to come. They need to set the goal as swimmable 100% of the time.'
3 A reclassification for the waterway would mean that the state would suspend all required water quality standards up to 36 hours after it rains.
More than a dozen state and city politicians have already penned a letter to DEC Acting Commissioner Amanda Lefton demanding that the agency reconsider the proposed reclassification and replace it with a loftier goal — namely, to institute initiatives that would require the river to be swimmable at all times.
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Two public hearings on the proposal are slated for the end of the month.
Other New Yorkers also accused the DEC of throwing the towel on cleaning up the river, including kayaking and rowing groups groups who currently try their best to avoid touching the polluted water during their excursions.
'This is not making anything better. It's essentially observing that if it hasn't rained in a while, the river might actually be clean enough to swim in — maybe. I wouldn't swim in it by choice,' said Joy Hecht, a member of the Harlem River Rowing Community.
3 'We know the status quo is not good. The Harlem River deserves better,' said Em Ruby.
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'It's essentially saying, 'We give up. We're not going to try and improve it.''
A DEC spokesperson did not address the claims, saying the proposed 'landmark regulatory changes are unprecedented, building upon decades of ongoing progress to transform the Harlem River and other waters in and around New York City.'
'Collectively, New Yorkers are making significant progress in improving water quality, and the new requirements would provide additional ecological benefits and positive impacts to the region's fishing, boating, and swimming conditions,' the statement said.
Chauncy Young, a coordinator at the Harlem River Coalition, griped that the proposed change marks another injustice that the borough has been dealt, pointing to other waterways throughout the city that boast free, city-run kayaking and canoe programs in their cleaner-by-comparison water.
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Even the Hudson River has numerous swimming spots and opportunities throughout the year.
'We definitely feel like the forgotten borough,' Young said.
'We've been advocating for access to the river for decades and decades and decades …We definitely feel like the Bronx and upper Manhattan have been left out of development and resources that have been provided to communities in terms of access and programming and just beautiful parks.'
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