Didn’t planes once fly over a fishing community here? Today we are at Bergen Basin. It is a tributary inlet to Jamaica Bay in Queens. Bergen Basin’s story is quite interesting.
The airport was built on the marshes surrounding Bergen Basin in 1942. So much of the landscape changed. Before that, Bergen Basin was known as Bergen’s Landing Aqueduct or Bergen Creek. Those names evoke a different time.
Originally, a stream fed Bergen Basin. It emerged near 131st Street at Conduit Avenue. Imagine that natural spring. Bergen Basin is about 300 to 350 feet wide. It is under 20 feet deep at mean low water.
Now, the Jamaica Water Pollution Control Facility discharges into Bergen Basin. The Interstate Sanitation Commission reports a large amount of treated wastewater discharge daily. This water is classified as estuarine subtidal open water. It is permanently flooded by tidal water.
Look for the buoys marking the entrance. Notice the yellow brick circular tank about 40 feet high. It stands on the southwest side of the entrance. Also, observe the numerous oil storage tanks. They line the east shore at the head of the basin.
Coastal tankers and sand-and-gravel barge tows account for most of the commerce here. So, it is a busy place.
In 1963, the sewage works underwent alterations. All the plant effluent was discharged to the basin for two weeks. The influent sewage was septic. It had been stored in the intercepting sewers for months. This caused severe pollution to the basin. There was a very strong evolution of hydrogen sulphide.
To improve conditions, bulk sodium nitrate was added to the basin. This aimed to create aerobic conditions in the bottom deposits. Sodium hypochlorite solution was also added. It was used to oxidize the hydrogen sulphide in the water.
Residents of Howard Beach and South Ozone Park noticed a rank smell in 1964. The Department of Public Works said a two-foot deposit of sediment caused it. The basin was dredged to remedy the situation.
In January 1988, a sunken wreck was reported. It was in the eastern arm of Bergen Basin.
Before the airport, this basin was an inlet of Jamaica Bay. It was the site of a fishing community long forgotten. The stream emerged near 131st Street at Conduit Avenue. Old maps labeled this point as Bergen Landing. At the turn of the 20th century, it was Richmond Hill Circle.
Bergen Landing Road once connected downtown Jamaica and Bergen Basin. Today, 131st Street, Lincoln Road, and Lakewood Avenue indicate this road. These streets follow the path of Bergen Landing Road. They predate the north-south grid imposed on the landscape.
The Bergen Landing community is now the Jamaica Water Pollution Control Plant. The first water treatment facility was built here in 1903. It has expanded to handle untreated water from southeastern Queens.
In the late 1940s, aerial views showed all the creeks and inlets covered by the airport. Only Bergen Basin remains. It was carved as a channel around the airport’s western side.
East Hamilton Beach once stood between Bergen Basin and the Rockaway subway line. It was a neighborhood of fishing shacks with canals. Residents were notified of the airport’s expansion in 1947. Their homes were removed.
Today, no trace of East Hamilton Beach remains. Only a graffiti-covered pumping station tank stands at the mouth of Bergen Basin. Airport security keeps the former neighborhood and Bergen Basin inaccessible to the public.
A ferry service was proposed in 2001. It aimed to connect the airport with Middletown, New Jersey. A boat carrying officials ran into mud in 2014. The ferry proposal remains stuck. Bergen Basin. A place transformed by time and progress.