Now, in the midst of a long, hot summer with little rain, the river is a sluggish green. The Pompton River is suffering from an algae bloom, a growth of tiny organisms that thrive in water high in nutrients primarily from sewage treatment plants and runoff from lawn fertilizers. The algae bloom is so bad that the Passaic Valley Water Commission, which serves 28 towns in Bergen, Passaic, and Essex counties, stopped withdrawing water from the Pompton River last week. It began drawing from the Point View Reservoir in Wayne for the first time in nearly two decades and from the Passaic River, which also has high levels of algae, though not as high as the Pompton. Officials say the drinking water meets state and federal standards, even though it must be treated with more chemicals, including chlorine, which can increase the amount of cancer-causing trihalomethanes.
Environmentalists warn that any increase of cancer-causing chemicals in drinking water is a concern.
They say the algae bloom is symptomatic of a larger problem with water quality in the Passaic River basin, which includes the Pompton, Ramapo, Pequannock, and Wanaque rivers - all of which eventually drain into the Passaic River. The failed water policies of the state are coming home to roost. While algae occur naturally, human activity plays a role in an algae bloom such as the one in the Pompton River. There are more than a dozen sewage treatment plants on the Pompton and Ramapo rivers that pump nutrient-rich effluent into the water. In fact, much of the water in the rivers these days is treated sewage effluent.