unwonted ripples
Ahh, my beloved Creek… she never disappoints.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last week, one found himself visiting the Vernon Avenue Street End in the company of a couple of friends who were busy talking shop. I was idle, and interfering with their conversations, and so went to the water’s edge. A fine view of DUPBO was being enjoyed when the NYC DEP’s Port Richmond Sludge Boat appeared.
“Oh happy day” thought I.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m fairly obsessed with the DEP’s Navy, and my interests in the fleet of sludge boats is well known to regular readers of this, your Newtown Pentacle. This is one of three brand new vessels, recently brought online, the Port Richmond. In the shot above, its doing what its designed to do, which is pass under the Pulaski Bridge without necessitating the draw bridge to open.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Port Richmond was coming from the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant’s new dock facility along Newtown Creek’s Whale Creek tributary. It was likely headed for Wards Island, where the “honey” would be pumped out. Said “honey” will be centrifuged to remove as much water as possible, leaving behind sewage solids which have been described to me as having the consistency of wet polenta.
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The Newtown Pentacle 
mitch i don’t get the gist of your piece. is the wet polenta movement to ward’s island and under the bridge a good or bad thing? i am not up on the topic enough to understand why it is unwonted or unwanted
From: The Newtown Pentacle Reply-To: The Newtown Pentacle Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 15:02:14 +0000 To: Patricia Dorfman Subject: [New post] unwonted ripples
WordPress.com Mitch Waxman posted: “Ahh, my beloved Creek… she never disappoints. – photo by Mitch Waxman Last week, one found himself visiting the Vernon Avenue Street End in the company of a couple of friends who were busy talking shop. I was idle, and interfering with their c”
Patricia Dorfman
March 19, 2015 at 1:35 pm
The DEP system is neither good, not bad, it just is. Raw sewage enters the plants and is filtered and thickened. The thickened material is loaded onto the sludge boats and taken to Wards Island for dewatering. The dried material – the polenta – is formed into cakes which are sold to agricultural clients who use it as fertilizer for non food crops (cotton, biofuel soy etc.). It’s a shitty situation, ultimately.
Mitch Waxman
March 19, 2015 at 1:39 pm
[…] attend the christening and launch of their three new sludge boats along its bulkheads. Sludge Boat, you ask? Christening, you say? Sludge Boat, baby, Sludge […]
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