Here’s A Rare Glimpse Of Paterson’s Great Falls Shut Down

PATERSON, NJ – The Great Falls in Paterson was briefly shut down Thursday for about three hours to allow for crews to conduct a cleanup of fallen trees, litter and other debris that have accumulated along the shores and in the rocks above the waterfall.

The maintenance, which was performed by the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission River Restoration Program, happens about twice a year at the historic landmark, however only one of those cleanups requires a complete shutdown of the falls, according to Doug Scancarella, a commission spokesman.

During work, the flow of the Passaic River is diverted through an adjacent hydroelectric plant owned by Paterson and operated by Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, he said.

Since 1998, the PVSC River Restoration Program has removed over 13,000 tons of debris from the Newark Bay, Passaic River and its tributaries. The program has also sponsored nearly 1,200 individual along area shorelines, resulting in 1,000 tons of debris collected.

One of the program’s signature initiatives is the cleanup of the Great Falls, the second largest waterfall in the northeast after Niagara Falls. The falls, which played a major role in New Jersey’s industrial development, were designated as a National Historical Landmark in 1976 and added to the National Historical Park System in 2009.

For more information, visit pvsc.nj.gov.