Success Story

Contacts: U.S. EPA Region 2 (212) 637-3000 or visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields

Uncovering a Long-Buried Prize in Downtown 

Yonkers: “Daylighting” the Saw Mill River

In Yonkers, New York, an EPA Targeted Watershed grant is helping to return long-buried sections 

of the Saw Mill River to the surface as part of a multi-billion dollar, area-wide revitalization effort 

that includes restoration of brownfields along the river.

Hig h lig h t s

The Saw Mill River Coalition 

(established by Groundwork Hudson 

Valley) forged relationships with 

public works departments, private 

developers, and professional water 

quality researchers to focus on water 

quality issues and develop corrective 

strategies.

The EPA grant has enabled the 

Coalition to pursue uncovering 

selected portions of the river that 

have for nearly a century been piped 

underground—an effort referred to as 

“daylighting” the river.

Goals under a planned, area-wide 

revitalization effort include a new, 

minor-league ballpark as well as new 

housing and retail development.

Floating trash and other debris 

collect along the Saw Mill river

EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization program and the National 

Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) 

program have had a successful 12 year partnership with Groundwork 

USA. Groundwork USA is a network of independent non-profit 

organizations called Groundwork Trusts focused on stabilizing and 

revitalizing their communities through projects and programs that 

improve their environment, economy and quality of life. 

Similar to the community led efforts of the Brownfields Program, the 

Urban Waters initiative is an effort to restore and protect urban water 

bodies and adjacent lands. U.S. EPA’s goal is to integrate and leverage 

existing programs to foster increased understanding and a sense of 

United States

Environmental Protection

Agency
ownership of waters and surrounding land 

in communities across the country. This is 

especially important as urban waters impact 

large populations and land-use decisions 

have far-reaching implications. 

The Saw Mill River Project

The Agency’s commitment to restoring urban 

waters is evident in cities like Yonkers, New 

York, where a Targeted Watershed grant of 

nearly $1 million awarded in 2007 is helping 

to return long-buried sections of the Saw 

Mill River to the surface as part of a multibillion dollar, area-wide revitalization effort. 

This grant was awarded to Groundwork 

Hudson Valley, a non-profit environmental 

organization located in Yonkers. The 

organization had already established the 

Saw Mill River Coalition in 2001 to improve the 

area’s water quality, encourage sustainable land 

use, restore habitat and biodiversity, promote 

recreational opportunities, and raise awareness 

of the river’s history and significance. Among its 

many areas of assistance, the EPA grant has 

enabled the Saw Mill River Coalition to pursue one 

of its primary goals: uncovering selected portions 

of the river that have for nearly a century been 

channeled into large underground pipes—an effort 

referred to as “daylighting” the river, or bringing the 

river back to the light of day. Along with the EPA 

grant, a combination of public and private funding 

will be used to finance this project.

Saw Mill River History

In the early 1920s, in response to Yonkers’ 

burgeoning development and rapidly expanding 

population, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

(USACE) covered up sections of the Saw Mill River 

to allow flood mitigation—as well as to protect 

citizens from what was becoming a dangerously 

polluted waterway. The last mile of the Saw Mill 

before its confluence with the Hudson runs almost 

entirely underground, with scant portions visible 

between some buildings and under the train 

station.

Pollution levels in the Saw Mill River, caused by 

the area’s industrial past as well as rampant, illegal 

dumping and sewage overflows during flooding 

events, remained hazardous through the 1990s. 

While areas of the river are home to wood frogs, 

eastern painted turtles, rainbow trout, redbreast 

sunfish, egrets, and herons, research conducted by 

the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the 1990s 

revealed that the Saw Mill contained the highest 

concentration of metals of all sites in the USGS’ 

National Water-Quality Assessment Program. A 

more recent evaluation in 2007 conducted by the 

Coalition also found elevated levels of human fecal 

coliform bacteria in two municipalities; sources are 

still under investigation. Portions of the river have 

for decades been a dumping ground for trash, tires 

and appliances; some of the river’s most scenic 

stretches are choked with plastic containers, fast 

food wrappers and bottles.

Reduction of those contamination levels has been 

a high priority for more than a decade. In 1999, 

in a collaboration with Westchester County, the 

USACE began a review of the river that resulted 

in an Ecosystem Restoration Study in 2003. 

Extending more than 23 miles, the Saw Mill 

River begins as suburban wetland outside of 

Chappaqua, New York; then runs south through 

12 municipalities and along 16 miles of Saw Mill 

River Parkway before emptying into the Hudson 

River in downtown Yonkers, the state’s fourthlargest city. 

Contacts: U.S. EPA Region 2 (212) 637-3000 or visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields

Portions of the Saw Mill river 

were covered in the early 1920s.
The Saw Mill River Coalition picked up where 

these efforts left off, finalizing an Action Plan that 

included a list of priority problems, strategies for 

addressing them, and specific tasks. The Coalition 

has taken a three-pronged approach: 1) cleanup 

of selected areas along the river, combined with 

an outreach campaign to reduce dumping and 

increase awareness of the importance of the Saw 

Mill’s restoration; 2) restoring critical watershed 

and riverbank areas to ensure uninterrupted river 

flow and flood prevention; and 3) addressing 

ongoing development pressures and poor landuse planning, by helping municipalities incorporate 

river protection into their decision-making 

processes.

Working Partnerships

With assistance from the EPA grant and 

collaboration from its member stakeholders, 

including the New York State Department 

of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC), 

the Coalition has pursued its Action Plan. A 

partnership with Manhattan College created a 

comprehensive water quality monitoring program, 

and an inter-municipal agreement signed by 

affected cities and towns is protecting the Saw 

Mill River from further damage. The Coalition 

established a working relationship with public 

works departments, private developers, and 

professional water quality researchers, to focus 

on fecal coliform and other water quality issues 

and develop corrective strategies in the affected 

municipalities. A collaboration with high school 

students developed an “anti-trash/floatables” 

campaign that uses signage, volunteer cleanups, 

and public outreach to repair some of the damage 

done by dumping and improve public awareness. 

And through meetings, seminars, workshops 

and publications (including its own website), the 

Coalition has provided information to municipal 

staff and decision-makers to improve land-use 

planning decisions, create models for stormwater 

management, and integrate river protection 

measures into development plans. 

Project in Motion

A groundbreaking ceremony for “daylighting” 

of the Saw Mill River was held in December 

2010. Eventually, uncovering of long-buried 

sections and restoration of the Saw Mill River 

will allow development to proceed on a $3.1 

billion revitalization project for downtown Yonkers. 

Plans under this project include a new minorleague ballpark as well as new housing and retail 

development. The soon to be exposed areas of 

the Saw Mill River are a major component of this 

revitalization, as are the efforts by the Coalition 

to clean up the river and protect it from further 

contamination. 

“We’ve really made a dent in improving water 

quality in the Saw Mill River,” explains AnnMarie Mitroff, Director of River Programs with 

Groundwork Hudson Valley. “We’re involving 

people across multiple sectors—from religious 

groups, service organizations such as Rotary 

clubs and girl scouts, to kayaking and nature 

groups—in being stewards in their environment. 

This is basically about bringing the Saw Mill River 

‘back to the light’ and in the process, renewing 

the river experience for people in the middle of 

an urban environment.”

A glimpse of the long-covered Saw Mill 

river, visible between two buildings.

Contacts: U.S. EPA Region 2 (212) 637-3000 or visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields
URBAN WATERS

Urban environments, particularly in underserved communities, are typically characterized by paved or covered 

“impervious” surfaces, working waterfronts with industrial facilities, abandoned industrial sites, and other 

underutilized or contaminated lands. These characteristics, in combination with aging and inadequate storm 

water management infrastructure, generate excess and untreated runoff that transports sewage and hazardous 

wastes into local water bodies. Urban patterns of historical development often make waterways inaccessible to 

adjacent neighborhoods. Lack of access to waterways limits the ability of communities to connect and participate 

in restoring waterways as healthy living ecosystems and reap the benefits of living close to the water in the city. 

Addressing these issues to ensure healthy and accessible urban waters can help grow local businesses and 

enhance educational, recreational and social opportunities in nearby communities. 

EPA is learning from community efforts already underway and supporting communities as active participants in 

the restoration and protection of urban waters. EPA works to increase access to waterways, which promotes a 

sense of public ownership of water resources and integrates environmental goals with other pressing priorities like 

economic development, education, job creation, and greenspace creation and preservation.

URBAN WATERS RESOURCES

www.epa.gov/urbanwaters 

Watershed Planning and Management

•	 Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure -

cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/home.cfm?program_id=298

•	 Directory of EPA Watershed Publications -

water.epa.gov/type/watersheds/publications.cfm

•	 Key EPA Water Internet Tools Course -

www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/wacademy/epatools

•	 Watershed Central and Wiki - wiki.epa.gov/watershed2

Water Quality and Pollution Prevention

•	 EPA Enforcement and Compliance History Online -

www.epa-echo.gov/echo

•	 Nonpoint Source Pollution -

www.epa.gov/owow_keep/NPS/index.html

•	 Water Quality Assessment Tools and Models -

water.epa.gov/scitech/datait/models/index.cfm

Community Information

•	 Groundwork USA - www.groundworkusa.org

•	 National Park Service Rivers and Trails Program -

www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca

•	 Adopt Your Watershed -

www.epa.gov/owow_keep/adopt/index.html

•	 Community Culture and the Environment A Guide to

Understanding a Sense of Place - www.epa.gov/care/

library/community_culture.pdf

•	 EPA Smart Growth - www.epa.gov/smartgrowth

•	 Surf Your Watershed - cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm

Outreach Development

•	 Coastal Urban Waters Toolkit -

www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/debris

•	 Getting In Step: A Guide for Conducting Watershed

Outreach Campaigns -

www.epa.gov/owow/nps/toolbox/guide.htm

•	 Non-Point Source Toolbox - www.epa.gov/nps/toolbox

Funding

•	 Brownfields Grants to Support Assessment/Cleanup

of Contaminated Property, Environmental Workforce 

Development and Job Training Grants, and Targeted 

Brownfields Assessments - 

www.epa.gov/brownfields/grant_info/index.htm

•	 Catalog of Federal Funding Sources for Watershed

Protection - cfpub.epa.gov/fedfund

•	 Sustainable Finance Website -

www.epa.gov/owow/funding/trainings.html

•	 Watershed Funding Resource Directory -

water.epa.gov/aboutow/owow/funding.cfm

Case Studies

•	 Case Studies for Stormwater Management on

Compacted, Contaminated Soils in Dense Urban Areas - 

www.epa.gov/brownfields/tools/swcs0408.pdf

•	 Urban Agriculture on Brownfields Website -

www.epa.gov/brownfields/urbanag

•	 Targeted Watershed Grant Case Studies -

water.epa.gov/grants_funding/twg/initiative_index.cfm

For more information on the Saw Mill River Project, and on other brownfields related Groundwork projects, contact Groundwork 

Hudson Valley at 914-375-2151, or visit the Groundwork Hudson Valley web site at: www.groundworkhv.org. 

Brownfields Success Story

Groundwork Hudson Valley

Saw Mill River Project

Solid Waste 

and Emergency 

Response (5105T)

EPA 560-F-11-023

April 2011

www.epa.gov/brownfields