Ridgewood Settles Passaic River Chemical Lawsuit

Although it isn't responsible for Agent Orange finding the waters of the Passaic River, Ridgewood was named as a third-party defendant in a lawsuit seeking compensation to clean up the heavily polluted river.

According to Village Attorney Matt Rogers, eight homes on High Street discharge wastewater into Glen Rock's sewer system, which in turn partially discharges into the Passaic Valley Sewer Commission.

That commission is one of the first party defendants named in a lawsuit filed by the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Any entity depositing sewage into the system was named to the lawsuit, Rogers said.

According to Village Manager Ken Gabbert, the village was offered and accepted a settlement from the court that requires a $95,000 payment. The Bergen Joint Insurance Fund will cover costs above the $50,000 deductible, with the New Jersey Environmental Joint Insurance Fund covering the remaining obligation.

"These actions are a help to the Village in that we do not have to make the payment now and then get reimbursed from the several insurance carriers that have covered the Village over the last thirty-plus years," Gabbert told Patch.

The lower section of the Passaic River is a federally-designated Superfund site. According to the EPA, for about 30 years in the mid-20th century, herbicides and pesticides used to produce Agent Orange were manufactured by various companies at the Diamond Alkali Superfund site in Newark.

Work to remove a litany of hazardous chemicals remains ongoing.