Brooklyn mini marsh project uses native mussels, greenery to clean polluted waterway

Most people see polluted water and keep their distance. Along the banks of Newtown Creek in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a mini marsh tank nicknamed "Tina" is inviting students to do just the opposite.

The tank, named after Spartina, the salt marsh cordgrass growing on its surface, filters hundreds of gallons of water from Newtown Creek each day.

Decades of industrial pollution

The project, led by the Newtown Creek Alliance, is designed to give students hands-on experience monitoring the health of one of the most polluted waterways in the U.S.  

"On top of large-scale infrastructure upgrades to improve our capacity to treat wastewater, we should look at other solutions, especially nature-based solutions and green infrastructure," said Gus Perry of the Newtown Creek Alliance.

The environmental nonprofit advocates for the waterway, which has survived decades of industrial pollution and one of the nation's largest oil spills.

"Newtown Creek has been a superfund site for over 15 years now. And something that's really hard is getting people to engage with a process that spans many decades," Perry says.

The tank is planted with salt marsh cordgrass and Atlantic ribbed mussels, which are maintained by college fellows participating in a summer environmental science project.

"It's like an interesting way to monitor the health of the ecosystem," says Jonah Rurak, a senior at Hunter College.

"I think that trying to work with what is here and is probably not going to change in recent times and trying to get nature-based solutions is definitely a step in the right direction," says Saanvi Sherchan, a junior at Bowdoin College.

A project like this, Perry says, might help with more advocacy.

"And it's pretty fun, too," he said. 

"Still a thriving habitat" 

At high tide, water from Newtown Creek is pumped into the tank, where it remains for several hours as the plants, mussels and naturally occurring organisms filter it before it is released back into the creek.

"Adding oxygen, consuming nitrogen, filtering bacteria," Perry said.

Students also monitor wildlife living in and around the creek, including shrimp, mud crabs and even an eel that swam into one of their traps.

"There's this idea that the Newtown Creek is a dead zone, that it's been filled with too much pollution for too many years, that no more life can grow in it. But we try and show people that it's still a thriving habitat for so many species," adds Ramisa Rifa, a junior at the City College of New York.

"A project like Tina shows what our future could be. What this could also become ... back home to what it once was," says Rachel Mendoza, a senior at Queens College.

While the mini marsh alone will not restore Newtown Creek, leaders say it demonstrates how habitat restoration can support broader cleanup efforts while helping people connect with the waterway.

"It's pretty exciting to know that there's a potential for a lot more life in the creek, and when we create niches for habitat to expand, it will," Perry said.

With every tide, Tina works to turn the tide.

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