By Editor • Mar 9th, 2009 • Category: News

Cleanup participants sign up at the Grease Trucks

New Brunswick residents, Rutgers organizations and local activists spent a few hours Saturday morning cleaning up the streets along the Mile Run Brook that cuts through town. The cleanup was intended to bring together the community and raise awareness of the pollution around the brook and the Raritan River, said Casey Economides, Media Outreach Coordinator for NJ Community Water Watch.

The cleanup brought together roughly 100 people from 13 different organizations, and covered the area between the Mile Run Brook and College Avenue. Participating organizations included the NJ Women’s Alliance Network, Franklin High School JROTC, and several fraternities and sororities from the Rutgers community.

This cleanup was a preliminary event running up to NJ Community Water Watch’s Earth Day Cleanup on April 18, Economides said.

The brook, which empties into the Raritan River just north of Landing Lane, became the object of controversy during the early part of the decade when it was discovered that chemical compounds from the Rhodia, Inc. plant on Jersey Avenue had seeped into the brook and ground water. The brook flows north from Jersey Avenue until it crosses Hamilton Street where it turns west, and runs parallel to Easton Avenue behind St. Peter’s University Hospital.