About The East River

The East River is not really a river at all. It is a tidal strait that connects New York Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean to Long Island Sound. As such, it is subject to high and low tides and flows in different directions at different times.

The section of the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn has historically been one of the world’s busiest and most important waterways. With the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, New York Harbor became even more important as the main transhipping port in the country, connecting the U.S. interior and Europe, as well as port cities up and down the East Coast. By 1840, more passengers and cargo were being moved through New York Harbor than all other U.S. port cities combined.

After decades of being considered among the most polluted bodies of water anywhere in the U.S., the East River has been getting cleaner since the enactment of the federal Clean Water Act in 1971.

As a result, many native species have returned to the river, including the eastern oyster, which had been a staple food for New Yorkers from the Lenape, the Algonquin people who greeted Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 to the Golden Age revelers and working stiffs of the 19th century. The East River is also the home of striped bass, crabs and egrets.

Combined Sewer Overflows

Every year, nearly 27 billion gallons of untreated raw sewage enters New York City’s waterways through events called Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). These events take when as little as a tenth of an inch of rain falls on New York City due to the impermeability of New York City’s buildings, streets and sidewalks which cause rainwater to run off into the combined sewer system.

Several groups are workings to stop or limit the impact of CSOs on New York’s waterways. The Bronx River Alliance, the S.W.I.M. Coalition, Riverkeeper, and Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 are just afew places to start learning about what you can do to improve New York City water ecology.