West Orange cleans up the Peckman

WEST ORANGE, NJ – The West Orange environmental commission and Mayor Susan McCartney led a river clean-up on April 2 to clear debris from Peckman River stream to decrease incidents of flooding.

The mayor and environmental commission were joined by Joe McCartney, Assemblyman John McKeon, Legislative Aide Kris Ezzard, Township Forester Walter Kipp, Health Inspector Daniel Gomez, members of the fire and police departments, Scout master Jack Dean, Troop 2 scouts and various resident volunteers.
Peckman River Stream spans eight and a half miles in length, running through West Orange,
Verona, Cedar Grove and Little Falls until it connects with the Passaic River in Woodland Park.
It has elevations of both 624 and 119 feet based on your location along the river.

“Pecman River is a mile and a half long, the floodplain is about 40 feet, the riverbed is about 10 feet on either side and 15 feet deep roughly,” Kipp said.“Most rivers run south, Pecman runs north into Verona River.”
This river clean-up process began when West Orange was awarded a grant in 2019 by the New Jersey American Water Co.

“The grant was worth $20,000 and I placed Sean Cox and the Troop 6 Boy Scouts in charge of determining the best areas to clean in that area,” McCartney said. “Cox won the eagle scout award for his effort, the project spanned from the Eagle Rock reservation to West Orange High School.”

Cox and the other scouts, working with town engineer and Forester Walter Kipp, created a map to find blockages and what was stuck in the river.
“Working with Forester Walter Kipp, they were able to map out the location of the blockage in the river,” McCartney said. “They were able to discover large trees and concrete stuck in the river that will need to be removed using special equipment.”

Kipp also spoke about the contractor and equipment that will be used for this phase of the clean-up process.
“Currently, we picked up plastic bottles, cans and some tires to remove some blockage,” Kipp said. “We have $10,000 to work with for phase one of the project, so a contractor will come in to use a mini skid steer with a tree grapple to remove large tree parts, tires and concrete.”

Mayor McCartney also stated this project does not affect drinking water in West Orange.
“This project is in no way connected to the drinking water that comes from community water systems and private wells that New Jersey relies on for its drinking water,” McCartney said.
Kipp also spoke about the damage that prior hurricanes have caused to the River and to West Orange as a whole.

“Hurricane Sandy and Ida severely affected the Woodland Road and the piping at Eagle Rock Reservation,” Kipp said. “So a contractor has already removed tree dams out of a lake in Verona and will continue to remove debris as they come down to West Orange.”

West Orange Environmental Commission Chair Mike Brick, Cyndy Walsh Rintzler, Ken Alper, Justin Goldsman and Joe Berwind worked closely on this project. The Commission will be planting a bio-retention rain garden on May 7 and will donate second chance toys to the West Orange Environmental Recycling Center to keep plastic out of landfills on May 21.