On Wednesday evening, a Con Edison cable pipe carrying dielectric fluid and insulating oil broke, releasing approximately 2,200 gallons of contaminants in Yonkers and flowing into the Bronx River through an outfall pipe. Protective booms and clean-up crews have been deployed, including skimmers, absorbent booms, absorbent pads, and vacuum trucks. Once this oil has stopped flowing into the river from the outfall, the pipe will be flushed to absorb all additional oil. If you see any of these structures, please do not remove; if you notice they are not holding all the contaminants, please document with photos or videos and send to our Ecology Director, Michelle Luebke, at michelle.luebke@parks.nyc.gov.
Tri-State Bird rescue has been called upon to survey the Bronx River up to the NY Botanical Garden and found no impacted birds as of Friday, September 11, 2015. They will continue to survey the river between the site of contamination and the NY Botanical Garden. Our Conservation Crew has been monitoring any potentially affected wildlife as well. If you see any birds or other animals near the river that appear to have oil on them or are acting abnormally, please report this to Michelle as well.
