Newark Bay Study - Passaic River Public Digital Library

• Establish the magnitudes and relative importance of specific contaminant transfers within
the Newark Bay study area, including:
− Import and export of COPCs and COPECs between Newark Bay and the Passaic
and Hackensack rivers, to the North,
− Loads from tributaries and other point and nonpoint sources adjacent to the Bay,
− Re-mobilization of deposited contaminants or removal from the water column by
settling of particle-bound COPCs and COPECs within the Bay itself,
− Import and export of COPCs and COPECs between Newark Bay and other
hydraulically connected waterways at the Southern end of Newark Bay (i.e., the
Arthur Kill and Kill van Kull).
• Provide management guidance for the adverse ecological and human health effects of the
transport and ultimate fate of COPCs and COPECs within the system.
• Assess the effectiveness of alternative remedial actions that may be implemented in Newark
Bay proper, in the 17-mile tidal reach of the Passaic River and elsewhere in the model
domain, during both the remediation and post-remediation periods.
• Assess sediment quality and contaminant levels that will result from a reduction or
elimination of sources of COPCs and COPECs to the system, as well as the time frame for
improvement under various remedial action alternatives.
The modeling portion of the Newark Bay study area will overlap with that used for the
Lower Passaic River Restoration Project and will consider the Passaic River, as well as the
Hackensack River, Newark Bay and other tributaries. This Passaic River - Newark Bay model will
also consider the interaction of this system with the contiguous waters of the Kill van Kull, the
Arthur Kill, the Hudson River and greater NYNJ Harbor system. It is necessary to do so to ensure
that the far-field boundary conditions do not artificially influence the transport and distribution of
COPCs and COPECs within the Newark Bay model domain. Additionally, material that is
transported out of the Newark Bay, should a major storm event occur in the future, could
potentially have an adverse impact on more distant regions, and it will therefore be necessary to have
the capability to quantify the potential significance of such impacts should a major storm event
occur at various points in time.
Although the preceding macro-scale transport processes will be explicitly considered in the
context of the Passaic River – Newark Bay model investigations, there remain additional areas within
Newark Bay where it may be desirable to represent the system with a still higher level of detail.
Hence, it is envisioned that the model grid representing Newark Bay will incorporate a finer level of
resolution in some localized areas, beyond what would have been required for a model of the overall
system that focused on the lower Passaic River alone. Currently the plan for the Newark Bay Study
Area is to develop a single integrated model for both water bodies. This approach is preferable with
respect to ease of use and performing management remediation scenarios.
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