Category Archives: Patrol

Green Water

In late March 2015 bright green water was seen in various parts of Newtown Creek. Assuming this was not the remnants of an attempt to celebrate St. Patricks day (as done with dye in the Chicago River) we asked some of our favorite researchers if they could figure out what was producing such a distinctive […]

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Holy Menhaden

An amazing scene has descended upon Newtown Creek. As of November 6th, massive schools of Menhaden (moss bunker) have occupied large portions of Newtown Creek. They have been seen from the East River to the Greenpoint Avenue bridge, Whale Creek and all the way throughout Dutch Kills (where water quality is notably worse). Is this […]

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Oil Sheens on the Creek

UPDATE September 15th:  On September 9th, NYSDEC received an anonymous tip that has led to identifying a responsible party dumping waste oil into a land side drain that leads straight to Dutch Kills. US Coast Guard as well as an environmental services contractor deployed sorbent and containment booms to contain and remove the dumped oil […]

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Lowest Tides on the Creek

The winter months provide some of the best times to witness low water conditions in New York harbor. For a few hours each year parts of the creek are exposed, that are otherwise always underwater. This results from falling water levels that result from colder temperatures (more here) as well as  new moon cycles, where […]

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Riverkeeper patrols the Creek on a rainy day

Its just another rainy day on Newtown Creek for Riverkeeper Patrol Boat Captain John Lipscomb…here are a few notes and photos of his observations: “Newtown Creek today. Raining. We see several sites with very turbid discharges – assume storm water. No sheens. No SPDES signs. Also, at Pratt oil seep on Queens side the absorbent boom is […]

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