June 8, 2001—The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners (PVSC) held a ceremonial groundbreaking event on June 1 at the PVSC plant in Newark. They featured keynote speaker Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, as well as Congressmen Will Pascrell and Robert Menendez.
The event marks the beginning of improvements to the plant's final clarifier unit and construction of a floating dock in Newark Bay, with the Jersey City and Manhattan skylines visible in the background.
An $8.5 million grant to finance these major components of PVSC's Passaic River/Newark Bay Restoration Program was spearheaded by Rep. Frelinghuysen and received the support of the entire New Jersey Congressional delegation. The grant is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Improvements to the final clarifier are the first step toward ultimately doubling the PVSC's treatment capacity during wet weather and dramatically reducing the Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) that send millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into Newark Bay and the Passaic River during rainstorms.
The dock will provide a central location from which PVSC can more easily deploy its research vessel, RV Passaic River, and its surface skimmer vessel, SV Newark Bay. The skimmer vessel patrols the waterway, removing floating debris and litter.
