Passaic River Coalition

10/20/2026

The original Boonton is at the bottom of a reservoir.

Old Boonton sat on the Rockaway River about a mile and a half downstream from today's town, and its ironworks made supplies for the Patriot Army. In 1899, Jersey City contracted for a water supply from the river. The village's buildings were torn down or moved, the valley was flooded, and water started reaching Jersey City in 1904.

That's the Boonton Reservoir in Parsippany today, about 800 acres. In the droughts of 1957 and 1980, the water dropped low enough to show old foundations and stone walls.

Did you know a whole village was under there?

10/19/2026

https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/transportation/2026/10/14/port-authority-expand-teterboro-airport-wetlands-loss-outcry/92215993007/?utm_source=daily-record-at-morristown-daily-briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailybriefing&utm_term=hero&utm_content=pmor-e-nletter65

The Teterboro Airport expansion plan includes new hangars, airplane aprons, parking lots and a driveway. It will include filling 11 acres of wetlands.

10/14/2026

https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2026/10/forever-chemicals-found-in-surface-water-statewide-report-holds/?utm_source=NJ+Spotlight++Master+List&utm_campaign=cf5826ff55-AM_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_12_23_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1d26f473a7-cf5826ff55-398751981&ct=t(AM_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_12_23_2025_COPY_01)&mc_cid=cf5826ff55&mc_eid=774df36856

New study finds prevalence of PFAS -- or 'forever chemicals' -- in more than 90% of NJ's sampled rivers and lakes

10/11/2026

https://patch.com/new-jersey/morris/s/kttkd/chemical-giant-to-pay-millions-after-contaminating-2-morris-co-towns-ag-says?utm_term=article-slot-1&utm_source=newsletter-daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&user_email=8de098520d84b98b598d045b074d6b1293a660571f26ea8ca829d165b6d5bb00&user_email_md5=e47524efd8f26bf9d5ea7bf5024b9bb9&lctg=5f942b3fd4fa0253bd04dea3

A settlement of $4.5 million has been reached after Hercules Inc. allegedly contaminated two Morris County sites, according to the AG.

10/10/2026

Humans spent billions of dollars burying living rivers in concrete,
and then acted surprised when our cities flooded worse than ever before.

In the name of urban development, over 3.5 million miles of rivers
and streams have been dammed, channelized, or encased in concrete troughs.
We stripped away the soil, bulldozed the willow banks, and drained
the natural wetlands that had acted as planetary sponges for millennia.

A single acre of natural wetland can absorb up to 1.5 million gallons
of floodwater, releasing it slowly and safely into local aquifers.
Concrete, by contrast, absorbs nothing. It simply speeds the water up,
turning a natural rainfall event into a high-velocity urban flash flood.

So we built higher concrete walls to contain the water we freed.
And when those walls inevitably failed, we blamed nature for the disaster.

We traded living, self-maintaining ecosystems for lifeless concrete ditches.
Nature remembers the curves we tried to erase, and every time the storm
comes, the water tries to return to its original home.

Arrogance built these walls, and hubris keeps us trapped behind them.

09/24/2026

https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2026/09/army-corps-projects-at-risk-as-congress-drafts-water-policy-bill/?utm_source=NJ+Spotlight++Master+List&utm_campaign=c35f131cf8-AM_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_08_29_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1d26f473a7-c35f131cf8-398751981&ct=t(AM_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_08_29_2025_COPY_01)&mc_cid=c35f131cf8&mc_eid=774df36856

Potential cancellation of projects is part of decision to “deauthorize” hundreds of Army Corps projects nationwide

09/24/2026

Monksville Reservoir didn't exist until 1987, when engineers dammed the Wanaque River and let the water rise over a Highlands valley near Ringwood and West Milford. What filled in was more than 500 acres of some of the quietest water in North Jersey. 🚣

Paddle out on an early autumn morning and you get mirror flat water, forested ridges turning gold and red, and maybe a great blue heron standing perfectly still in the shallows. Anglers come for the bass, walleye, and muskie, but plenty of people just come for how empty and peaceful it feels this close to the crowded parts of the state. 🍂

There is history under and around this water too. The reservoir sits beside the old Long Pond Ironworks, where forges once turned Highlands ore into iron for the young country. The little settlement of Monks that gave the lake its name is part of what the rising water covered.

What is your favorite quiet spot to disappear to in the Jersey Highlands?

09/23/2026

09/16/2026

https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2026/09/next-steps-in-passaic-river-cleanup-includes-sampling-and-in-river-construction/?utm_source=NJ+Spotlight++Master+List&utm_campaign=87741c6809-AM_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_08_29_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1d26f473a7-87741c6809-398751981&ct=t(AM_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_08_29_2025_COPY_01)&mc_cid=87741c6809&mc_eid=774df36856

Remediation efforts center upon the 17-mile stretch of the Passaic that flows from Dundee Dam to Newark Bay