UPDATED: DEP Tells Ridgewood to Stop Dumping Snow in the Brook

After record snowfall dropped in December and January, the village was in a conundrum–where could it put all that snow that's piled all across the village? After thinking that problem might be solved with the state granting a rare request, the village finds itself again with snow and nowhere to go.

Along with five other municipalities in the state, the village was granted permission in late January by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to dump some of the excess snowfall into a waterway. For Ridgewood, that dumping zone became the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook.

The permission came under fire from environmentalists, who worried about the impact of contaminates–particularly salt–in a waterway. But the plan went ahead and Ridgewood dumped a fair amount of snow into the brook, officials said. Then, late last week the DEP pulled the plug.

A spokesman for the state agency confirmed on Monday that the village dumping permissions have been pulled, meaning Ridgewood will still need to figure out a way to get rid of the snow.

"We reviewed some information that showed it [the brook] narrows downstream from the discharge point and we asked them to stop," DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said Monday. "We withdrew their approval." The concern, from the DEP's perspective, was over flooding, not contaminates.

There have been no reported incidents of flooding incurred from the snow dumping, state officials told Patch. Village Engineer Chris Rutishauser said on Tuesday, Feb. 8 that the "controlled release of snow into the brook has never presented any evidence of damage or problems to the brook."

State officials have also warned of the dangers of clogged catch basins creating flood conditions as warmer temperatures turn snow into water.

Rutishauser said that the village remains diligent in keeping catch basins open and said part of the problem can be traced to contractors tightly packing snow, which blocks some drains.

On Tuesday night, Rutishauser noted that the village "will continue to remove snow and stockpile it at Graydon parking lot. The snow will either melt eventually, or when we run out of room we’ll petition NJDEP to release it."

Hajna remarked that with the extreme amount of snowfall, piles in the downtown were troubling, posing significant dangers to pedestrians and motorists alike. Rutishauser said the concern "is enough that we try our best to address it."

Rutishauser said the village "hauled out approximately 150 to 200 dump truckloads of snow from the CBD that were discharged into the brook under the NJDEP permission to release." He continued, "Since the request by NJDEP that we not dump anymore snow into the brook, we are stockpiling what we remove from critical locations at Graydon parking lot."

The DEP did not issue suggestions as to what Ridgewood could do to mitigate snow pileup problems after withdrawing dumping approval.

Under the original agreement, snow would be transported to the Graydon North parking lot by dump trucks and a loader would then deposit the snow into the brook, Rutishauser said in an e-mail to Patch late Friday. The flowing water in the brook would then melt the snow that had been dumped, he said.

The village was told by the DEP that the snow pile from the storm could be dumped until it was "exhausted". But it was a one shot deal–the village would have had to make another request to the DEP should another snowfall occur.

Rutishauser downplayed environmental concerns some have posed last Friday, several of which were levied by the head of the Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter in a NJ.com article. "There are less deicing chemicals in the snow we dump in the brook then what melts on the streets and enters our stormwater collection system," Rutishauser said.

Although residents called the village with complaints, Rutishauser said "I feel they may be unaware of the positive and environmentally friendly manner in which the Village handles the deicing materials."