Ocean Dumps
Dump Sites
For most of mankind's history, the world's oceans have been used as refuse dumps. Everything from sewage to everyday trash to medical, industrial, and chemical waste has been disposed of in the ocean, or in rivers that flow out to the ocean. In the vicinity of a major urban area like New York, you can bet there has been a lot of waste and dredge dumping, and much of it at sites that are alarmingly close to shore. All ocean dumping was finally banned by the EPA in 1988 after some massive fish kills, but not before many seafloor habitats were contaminated if not outright destroyed. The two major ocean dumping sites that have served the New York area since the mid-1800s are the 12 Mile Dumping Ground and the Mud Dump. Old dumpsites are marked on the charts as yellow areas.
The 12 Mile Dumping Ground was until recently the main repository for all of New York City's sewage waste, over six million tons annually. As such, this is a good area to avoid, both for fishermen and divers. The entire area is contaminated with toxic sludge and heavy metals, which forms a layer of poisonous black muck over everything. The 12 Mile dump was closed in 1987, after 63 years of operation. The average depth is about 100 feet. The area is slowly recovering, but I would not eat any fish or shellfish caught there, ever.
"The 12 Mile Sludge Dump was, and is, a toxic area. Although all remnants of biodegradable matter have long since been dissolved by the forgiving sea, the toxic metals contained within it are no doubt still present in the area's sediments, although I don't know to what extent. I have dived on the R.C. Mohawk 15 years ago and 5 years ago, and the positive change in the amount of sea life on the site was phenomenal."
If you think that is bad, this is the old World Trade Center, dumping all of its untreated wastewater directly into the Hudson River. Seems the Port Authority ( also in charge of sanitation ) gave themselves a sweetheart deal when they built the towers. I have personally witnessed the bay waters become much cleaner since the tragedy of 9/11. I hope the new WTC was designed with sewage treatment facilities.
The Mud Buoy ( right ) marks the site of the 2.2 square-mile Mud Dump ( officially, the New York Bight Dredged Material Disposal Site. ) For over a century this was the disposal site for sediments dredged from New York Harbor and surrounding areas. The area is contaminated with PCBs, dioxin, petrochemicals, and lord-knows-what-else that accumulated on the floor of the harbor and was then dug out. So much mud has been dumped here - over 200 million cubic yards - that it actually forms a mound above the surrounding bottom. However, not all of the harbor dredgings actually ended up inside the dumpsite, due to navigational errors and natural dispersal by the sea, so that the contaminated area is much larger than indicated. The average depth in this vicinity is 60-70 feet.
The Mud Dump site was officially closed in 1996, but was re-opened in 1997 by the Army Corps of Engineers as the greatly expanded "Historic Area Remediation Site" or HARS ( 15.7 square nautical miles, outlined in yellow on the chart. ) Different sections of the HARS are slated for different types and amounts of material, and small no-dumping zones are defined around several known shipwrecks, ostensibly to avoid burying them. The dredge material that is being dumped into the HARS site is supposedly cleaner than what was previously placed there and thus will form a "remedial cap" about one meter thick over the old pollutants.
Seems to me it's pretty much the same stuff they have been dumping there all along, and they just had no other place to put it. However, the new dump is much bigger than the old Mud Dump and should allow them to go on dumping New York dredge spoils forever, and all under the guise of cleaning up the old site. Closing one dump and then opening a bigger one in its place might strike you as duplicitous ( thanks, Al Gore. ) However, in the bigger scheme of things, this was inevitable, as letting New York Harbor fill up with silt and become unusable is simply not an option, and all that mud has to go somewhere. Hopefully, the new material really is cleaner, but in any case, you don't want to go bottom fishing around the Mud Buoy.
"The cap material that is now being used is coming from the very same channels and shipping berths as before. Although the stuff being used as cap material today is polluted with the same chemicals as in the past, it is deemed to be not AS POLLUTED, and therefore is good enough for remediation purposes. This is just a veiled excuse to keep dumping; I have absolutely no doubt that in the future when the HARS is finally finished being capped there will be a big "discovery" that the site is still too dirty, and must be re-capped with future dredge spoils to clean up the present cap material - a never-ending cycle !"
https://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation/Historic-Area-Remediation-Site-HARS
The Cellar Dirt dump site lies just east of the Mud Dump ( not charted. ) "The Cellar Dirt dump was actually a good dumpsite, as it consisted of blasted rock from the NYC subway system creation, and construction debris from the early 1900s -- an unintentional precursor to today's artificial reefs. Loads of bottom fish on the many piles of remaining debris." the Sandy Hook Artificial Reef today performs the same function, but the material that is placed there and on other artificial reefs today is inspected and certified to be clean and environmentally safe prior to disposal. Sandy Hook Reef now receives most of the rock and rubble that would otherwise go into the Mud Dump or the HARS.
The Acid Grounds was a dumpsite for acid and alkaline wastes, which was closed in 1988. The average depth is 90-100 feet. "The Acid Dump was, as far as I know, used exclusively by National Lead Co. of South Amboy, when that firm existed on the Raritan River on the west side of the Driscoll (Parkway) Bridge. From what I have ever heard the acid was quickly neutralized by the seawater in a chemical reaction and never posed an environmental hazard other than the temporary stain it left after being dumped. Any residue that settled to the seafloor could have had negative effects, but after all this time, storms and Mother Nature have likely cleaned the seafloor at the site."
Further to the south, the Wood-burning dumpsite was a location where barge-loads of wooden timbers were taken, burned, and then the ashes were dumped. My guess is that the wood that was disposed of here was too contaminated with creosote and chemicals to be recycled or disposed of on-shore. One would expect ashes to float away on the currents, but any unburned materials would probably sink to the bottom, and it was not unheard of to have loads of wood dumped before they were completely burned.
The 106 Mile or Deepwater dump site received industrial waste and sewage until 1991. Since this site is almost 100 miles offshore, and several thousand feet deep, it is of little concern to divers. The Mud Hole has also been used as a dumping ground, most likely for just plain old garbage.
There are a number of minor dumping grounds located very close to shore between Rockaway and Fire Island inlets off Long Island, and one each off Manasquan and Shark River inlets in New Jersey. These are all probably reasonably clean sand dredgings from the nearby inlets, the byproduct of boat channel maintenance. In the Manasquan River, Gull Island is largely composed of the same kind of dredge spoils. Most of the sand that is dredged up from inlet maintenance in New Jersey now joins the beach sand that is pumped in from offshore in the beach replenishment program ( if it is clean enough ), a sort of reverse ocean dumping scheme. Dumpsites also existed in Long Island Sound.
If anyone would like to fill in or correct some of my guesswork above, please contact me.
Artificial Reefs
Many unnatural rock formations have been created by dredge-dumping activities, and more recently by artificial reef-building. Marine life takes to these new granite and concrete habitats just the same, and diving a man-made rock pile can be as interesting and productive as a natural one.
