Share A boat ride down Newtown Creek in New York City reveals a story of a polluted past. On either side are industrial worksites and oil refineries, in front of you is the iconic Manhattan skyline, and beneath you is one of the most contaminated waterways in the United States. Newtown Creek is a 3.5-mile estuary and long tributary of the East River that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Newtown Creek offers spectacular views of the New York City skyline. (Photo courtesy of Marie Lorenz) What was once a fresh water, stream-fed creek became a dumping ground for industrial byproducts and toxins in 19th and 20th centuries, perhaps most famously noted for an oil spill in 1950 that was not discovered until the late-1970s. That disaster released between 17 and 30 million gallons of oil and petroleum product into the soil and creek. Today, organizations like the Newtown Creek Alliance are working on projects to address remediation, restoration and revitalization of the historic waterway. Already, blue crabs and fish have returned to the waters, and wetland plants are taking over abandoned sediment piles along the creek’s banks.