by Rhea Wood

Created on: June 02, 2007   Last Updated: December 11, 2010

Hudson County is the most densely populated county in New Jersey, and is also one of the most polluted. It takes only a walk down the street to see how human activity has adversely affected the environment here, from litter and trash to smog and hazardous waste. On a warm day, the air near Communipaw Avenue (a busy street leading to the New Jersey Turnpike) is thick and heavy with the pollution caused by countless cars and tractor trailers. But that is only one street; is the rest of the region just as contaminated? It depends on where you look and who you talk to.

The Hudson River, which is bordered by Hudson County on one side and Manhattan on the other, is notorious for being saturated with toxins and waste. In fact, it is the fourth most endangered river in America according to the conservation group "American Rivers." However, it has not always been that way.

Mrs. Patricia Byrnes, a resident of Jersey City all her life and principal of a local elementary school, remembers a time when her father would take her crabbing in the Hudson River. That changed when the General Electric company, over a period of 30 years, released one million pounds of PCBs into the river. PCBs are oily chemicals that cause cancer in animals, and were banned by the EPA in 1979 when they were found to be probable human carcinogens. PCBs also cause a host of other illnesses in humans, ranging from reduced immune system and thyroid function to developmental problems in unborn babies.

This is not the only problem to plague the Hudson River, though; its wetlands have been filled, its waters have been contaminated with sewage, its shorelines have been altered, and its original habitats have been overrun by species not native to the area. With so many issues, people began to accept the fact' that the Hudson River was so contaminated, so destroyed, that it could never be saved.

In more recent times, the Hudson has slowly started to recover. PCB levels in fish have dropped, and fishing has been allowed in the river since 1995, although it is still unhealthy, unwise, and illegal to eat any fish caught there. As Mr. John O'Connor, a neighbor of mine who is active in our community, laughingly commented, "the quality of life for the fish has improved." There are many private and state-sponsored groups fighting to preserve what remains of the startlingly resilient ecosystem and diverse wildlife. Restoration efforts, though difficult because of the river's proximity to so many large urban areas,

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