The U.S. EPA named the Hackensack River a Superfund site on Sept. 7.
This means that a large-scale cleanup of the river may take years or decades to complete, reported North Jersey News. The announcement was made at a news conference along the river in Secaucus. Almost seven years and three changes in presidential administration have passed before Hackensack was designated as a Superfund site.
The EPA first began examining the Hackensack for possible inclusion in 2015, and in March 2022 nominated it to the National Priorities List, which contains all of the nation's active Superfund sites, reported North Jersey News. The cleanup will target 19 miles of the river from Newark Bay upriver through the Meadowlands toward the Oradell Dam.
According to the EPA, the agency will identify polluters or those who inherited the liability of past polluters to pay for the cleanup and then design a cleanup plan. An added challenge is that the contamination remains in the sediment of the main river and the river is tidal, reported North Jersey News.
North Jersey News reported that the Hackensack River was originally examined for inclusion as a Superfund site after elevated levels of cadmium, lead, mercury, dioxin and PCBs were found in hundreds of sediment samples collected over years of study. New Jersey already has 114 Superfund sites.
The lower Hackensack and some of its tributaries experience legacy of pollution from factories and other industries, reported North Jersey News. Additionally, there are already six Superfund sites in the area as well as dozens of old industrial sites and closed landfills.
Since the 1980s, there have been efforts to stop pollution from leaching into the Hackensack.
Cleanup costs will likely be costly, according to EPA, reported North Jersey News.
