The Raritan River is New Jersey’s forgotten waterway, the largest river in the state but one that lacks the star power of the Hudson,
which has Manhattan so close, or the Passaic, whose entire lower stretch is designated a superfund site. It’s time to change that, environmentalists said Friday at a symposium dedicated to the Raritan that is to be held annually. It needs major toxic cleanup and more public access points, they said. The symposium may have been a start. More than 175 people spent the day filled a conference room at a downtown hotel in New Brunswick that had standing room only. The group, which included local residents, state department heads and a senator, were writing a love letter of sorts to the Raritan, which was nicknamed “the Queen of Rivers” two centuries ago by poet John Davis, but whose estuary in Middlesex County goes today by the name “Valley of the Dumps.” With 1,100 square-feet of rivulets and streams letting out into the Raritan, the waterway is the state’s largest river. It starts in the northwest part of the state, in Morris County at Budd Lake, a picturesque region compared to where the Raritan ends, a former industrial section of Middlesex County. It flows through 100 municipalities and seven counties. Participants focused their attention on the lower Raritan River, a 12-mile stretch that starts at New Brunswick and runs south and is home to 10 superfund sites either on the river or that drain into it.
Some successes were touted. Guest speakers included U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who helped secure $100 million in federal stimulus cash last month for New Jersey superfund sites, three of which are on the Raritan or drain into it.