DuPont Pollution Prompts Meeting Plans With DEP

Local and federal officials are trying to schedule a meeting with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to find more about the pollution that migrated from behind the Pompton Lake Dam.

Mayor Chris Vergano and Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen are attempting to schedule a meeting with the DEP to find out, “where the hot spots are” with regards the pollution that’s come into Wayne as a result of DuPont’s failure to keep it from seeping into Pompton Lake. The eastern part of the lake borders Wayne.

Officials have said that the floodgates on the dam possibly cause pollution from sediment at the bottom of the lake to flow into the Ramapo River and into Wayne.

“My concern is that once the gates open, all that muck from the bottom of the lake will be pushed down the river,” Vergano said at council meeting earlier this week.

The floodgates became operational in 2007. Residents blamed them for making downstream flooding worse during and after rainstorms. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used to control the gates. The DEP now controls them.

 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered tests conducted on sediment in the lake and downstream from the dam to determine the extent of the pollution. Samples will be taken up to three miles downstream to Riverside Park in Wayne.

Vergano said that he would report back and keep the public updated on the matter.

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