Was pequannock the lead agency that had control over the bidding process for all of the money until Wayne pulled its eighty grand out?

A major effort from the state and Federal Government should include building a wall along the river around the Soil Depot, eliminating the possibility of the contaminated soil flowing into the river. A fence should also be constructed on the property along Pompton Cross-road. Just below the Feeder Dam the river should be dredged, pulling out the sediment that flowed into it during the past 12 years. The costs should then be slapped onto the soil depot property owners along with a negligence law suit.
As Purcell stated "Peoples lives and homes should be our primary concern" but forgot to mention the "importance of their health", and that should also be considered.
The soil is contaminated, why are we letting it flow into the river ?

Yes Rob. Taken from the north jersey news
Pequannock, Pompton Lakes, Riverdale and Wayne were to split a $350,000 state grant awarded to the communities.

The money was intended to pay for the removal of about 350 trees in the Pequannock, Wanaque, Ramapo and Pompton rivers.

"This plan is taking too long," Vergano said at the meeting. "We have now decided to act on our own," he said about the de-snagging and clearing effort for parts of the Pompton and Ramapo rivers along the border of Wayne Township."

Pequannock was designated the lead town in the effort.

Pequannock Mayor Richard Phelan said that Wayne's decision to go its own way could signal a lack of cooperation between the towns and perhaps jeopardize future grants.

"If we can't show the state that we can work together on a $350,000 project, how can we expect them to give us more money?" Phelan said.

CLIFFVIEW PILOT BROKE THE STORY: The state DEP would establish mandatory water levels for flood-prone reservoirs, such as those in Oradell and Woodcliff Lake, and the Office of Emergency Management could order those levels lowered during severe weather conditions, under a bi-partisan bill submitted to the Legislature.
NJ Assembly members Connie Wagner, Bob Schroeder

The bill co-sponsored by Schroeder and Wagner notes that flooding “may result in loss of life, damage to property, and unsanitary conditions, all of which are detrimental to the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of lands in the area threatened by the flooding.”

It contends that repeated flooding this year in areas such as Westwood and Hillsdale “may have been caused or exacerbated by high reservoir levels.”

As a result, it “is therefore in the public interest to minimize and prevent the loss of life and property, disruption of commerce, and impairment of the tax base by ensuring that reservoirs are kept at levels satisfactory for the public water supply but protective of the public from the dangers and losses attributed to flooding,” the measure says.

For each flood-prone reservoir that’s identified, the state Department of Environmental Protection should “study and assess the downstream river or stream capacity and the water storage capacity of the reservoir,” it says.

What’s more, the bill directs the DEP to establish mandatory water levels for each of those reservoirs: “The maximum level for each reservoir shall be set at a level that best protects the area surrounding the reservoir against flooding while ensuring the availability of an adequate water supply for the area served by the reservoir.”

Before that can happen, the DEP would have to hold public hearings in at least three of the affected municipalities, and any others that request them, under the proposal.  If the regulations are approved, United Water and the other utilities would have 90 days to comply, it says.

Each utility would have to submit a “flood action plan” to the DEP that must “include, but need not be limited to, the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of flood gates sited at the reservoir.”

The Office of Emergency Management, a Division of the New Jersey State Police, “may order the water level of any reservoir in the State to be lowered, in a manner prescribed by the office, prior to or during a severe weather event if such action is determined by the office, after consultation with the department, to be in the general public interest and reasonably necessary to prevent or reduce the severity of flooding,” under the proposal.

I would hope all towns effected by the Pompton Floodgates would get behind this bill. I also believe that the Wanaque Reservoir should be included. I would hope we learned from our experiences, we can no longer afford to sit on our laurels, but need to be proactive in finding a solution to this chronic problem that will continue to worsen.

I hear no comments on the Passaic River desnagging ,etc, to twin bridges and below, how come?

Youre right Sandy, Purcells resolution is supporting getting behind the bill, and Squeakyfoot I read Purcells comment about lives as meaning their health. Rob by Wayne doing it on their own it WILL be done Faster and cheaperyou would have been complaining its taking too long since the project was supposed to have started last July.But no matter which way they go you would always find fault, you would never admit they are doing good, but thats just you and we realize that. Raymond by wayne doing the project in house more of the river might be done for the $80,000.00 than having a contractor do it.

@RealTruth -- I didn't find fault with the town at all in my post. Not sure why you're accusing me of launching a disparaging attack. I haven't, and I'm not. I simply wrote that its too bad that the four individual projects won't get the benefits of economies of scale that one would expect to achieve were they consolidated. Perhaps you were reacting to the Pequannock Mayor's comment and mistaking it for mine?

Ray you might want to read this report.
http://www.nj.gov/dep/passaicriver/docs/passaic-report201101.pdf

as far as I am concerned, the township coulda woulda shoulda done far more to remediate the problem long before it did so much damage! I mean seriously, how many times did rt 23 and the willowbrook mall have to flood for some one in gvt to notice? unreal...

Ray this might be better for the Passais river
http://csam.montclair.edu/pri/conferences/2nd-PASSAIC-RIVER-SYPOSIUM-book.pdf

Some interesting river facts. Taken from the National Weather Service
The following are the river crests for 1984, where the 3 rivers join above the Pompton Feeder Dam at Jackson Ave. , Wayne.
Wanaque River 10.82 ft 
Pequannock  River 8.90 ft (below the floodgates)
Ramapo River 21.60 ft
The crests for 2011
Wanaque River 7.88 ft (the river was 2.94 ft lower than in 1984)
Pequannock River 7.76 ft (the river was 1.14 ft lower than in 1984)
Ramapo River 22.62 ft (the river was 1.02 ft higher than in 1984; below the floodgates)

The next gage is the Pompton River at Pompton Plains. (Jackson Ave., Wayne at the top of the dam)
In 1984 the gage read 24.47 feet.  
In 2011 the gage read 25.24 feet. That is .77 feet higher.  The Wanaque and Pequannock River where 4.08 feet lower. 

The Pompton Floodgates are 18 feet tall by 35 feet wide X 2. In 2011 the floodgates opened a total of 14 feet. For every 3 inches the gates open the release about 250 cfs of water.  To help visualize the amount of water released when the floodgates are opened 14 feet. Just  imagine your average 3 bedroom ranch filled with water going through the gates ever second. 

I would hate to see what the Passaic River Basin will look like when all 3 rivers crest at historical heights. 

I don't understand how this will work with Watne splitting off. For example the Pompton River which forms a boundary between Wayne and Pompton Plans/Pequannock, is Wayne only going to desnag the shoreline on its side of the river, and what happensif the blockage is in the center of the rivers. Who is going to remove it. Seems Mayor Vergano got a little jumpy hear and it owuld better a better served project managed jointly. Also my math $350K divided by 4 equals $87,500, not $80K...also managing together means the money and time will be spent where it is needed the most. Also, if this grant is for desnagging the Pompton and Ramapo Rivers, I would expect that much more than 25% of this water flows through Wayne Township, as compared to let's say Riverdale . So Riverdale will have the same amount of money as Wayne for a much shorter distance and will be able to cleanup up much better than Wayne. So now in theory the water will flow quicker out of Riverdale and into Wayne. Nice thinking Mayor V

The problem with de-snagging is like putting a band-aid on a ruptured blood vessel. Albeit, it is a first step in what should be a much more comprehensive approach to mitigating the flooding problem. Our local officials should be lobbying the Federal Government for funding to include other needed projects. These to include, creating run off basins, dredging the rivers to handle more water, reassessing the operation of the Pompton Flood Gates, evaluating the effectiveness of all Dams downstream, etc..  The POMPTON FLOODGATES where a part of the tunnel project.  The proposed plan included dredging the river to the tunnel, to accommodate the increase volume from the Floodgates.  The ARMY CORPS project with the floodgates may have had good intentions, however, it has created a Chronic flooding problem. It's time for GOVERNMENT on all levels to take ownership of the problem and start taking corrective action. 

Sandy -- we just don't know what the impact the flood gates have on flooding in the area, or how much can be attributed to development in Oakland, and in Mahwah, and Pompton Lakes, and Riverdale which now has a WalMart, and a Home Depot, and a Lowes, and a Target, and multiple condos where there used to be trees. De-snagging is good and should be done as soon as possible. My personal intuition says that the flood gates could possible be manipulated to proactively manage the volume a water much better that it has been.

There's another issue with the flood gates. Pompton Lake has serious mercury contamination. I attended the EPA hearing in Pompton Lakes on Jan 5th where the EPA was taking public comments on DuPont's latest "clean-up" plan. They propose to dredge a 26 area portion of the lake at the Acid Brook delta -- about one tenth of the area of the entire lake. High levels of mercury and lead have been identified in this area, but these are not the only areas of contamination. Other hot spots have been identified. Some near the Wayne shore of Pompton Lake. This is not addressed in the current clean-up plan.

There was no indication in any of the DuPont/DEP/EPA materials that they had considered the effect of turbulent flood waters disturbing contamination from where is has settled. And those flood gates open from the bottom where the heavy metals settle. Who's looking at this issue?

The flood commission had 15 specific recommendations. How are we doing with implementing #15. Moratorium on All New Development within the Floodplain ?

Rob -- Who would want to drink out of that lake? During the hearing a local related that when core samples had been taken of the sediment they were followed by massive fish kills.

I think we need to desnag and clean out our Township Council first.

There's astonishing mercury contamination in Pompton Lake. The Wayne town council has been informed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGAa3JAOsVk

Down stream at the Fairfield Rd. pump station by the two bridges. Both Passaic Valley Water Comm. and North Jersey Water Comm. pump water to the sites. Passaic Valley pumps to there treament plant in Little Falls. And North Jersey pumps up to Monksville Reservoir.

30 years of a "clean up" that is spreading pollution - 30 years of the same politicians getting appointed and re-elected despite incompetence, inefficiency and inability to do anything except take care of the good ole boys. Studying for the Bar Exam - be back in March!

That's ok bean - I don't like you or anything about you.

You are noting but an anonymous heckler who lacks sufficient courage of his convictions to back his words with his name. You are of no moment in any conversation worth having.

I for one see no benefit in the cleanup of this poison with equally poisonous words. The vitriole does nothing to clean the water and the soil - it serves only to harden positions and injects personal animosity into a catastrophe that's already complicated enough to address. The simple fact is that the pollution here is deadly and destructive to a huge swath of people and places. It isn't fixed because it's expensive and difficult to fix. The question is how to coalign everyone's interests so the pollution can get cleaned up as efficiently as possible. A bus load of people to visit Lisa Jackson down in dc couldnt hurt. Or in front of DuPont headquarters. Name calling on a forum is counterproductive.

I fill my drinking canteen from that river, I hope I don't get sick ?