New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will be dredging Newtown Creek through the end of April.

The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is the largest in the City and operates, like most plants, through an activated sludge process.   In order for this treatment process to work, waste sludge must be removed every day.  Presently, waste sludge is piped to a storage tank near the East River in Greenpoint and then transferred to a sludge vessel (boat) for delivery to Wards Island for further processing.

DEP demolishes the sludge storage tank to make way for new affordable housing.  A new sludge dock has been built at Whale Creek, adjacent to the Newtown Creek plant, and sludge vessels will soon receive waste sludge there instead of the existing East River tank and dock.   However, to navigate to the new dock, maintenance dredging must be done along Newtown Creek to remove sediment and debris which accumulates in the waterway.

Dredge operations are expected to start in Whale Creek and then move west along Newtown Creek towards the Pulaski Bridge to the mouth of Newtown Creek.

Operations will be performed initially in 12-hour shifts, 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. As operations move into Newtown Creek, work will run 24 hours per day in order to minimize impacts to marine traffic.

All work will be performed from barges located on the water with all required Coast Guard lighting and signage for safe boating.

During the dredging operations, hydrogen sulfide gas trapped in the sediment may be released. This gas has a strong odor of rotten eggs. DEP will monitor for odor and take preventive measures to control the releases.

Call Shane Ojar, Director of Community Affairs at DEP –  718-595-4148 or by e-mail at sojar@dep.nyc.gov.