Hatfield Creek Cleanup Project Complete

Despite some complications at the end of last year, a nearly year-long cleanup project at Hatfield Creek is now complete.

Township Administrator Victor Canning reported on the progress of the creek cleanup during the Montville Township Committee's April 2 meeting.

"The Hatfield Creek stream-cleaning project is now complete," he said. "Hopefully, we'll continue with the DEP to do the next 500 feet, which will help in that area, hopefully, with some sort of waterflow."

The township embarked on the creek cleanup beginning with the first phase of the project in the summer, which included desilting and removing debris near Parkway and Walnut Drives. However, Canning said in December that the silt buildup under two bridges on Parkway and Walnut was too high for township equipment to get under to remove and that physical manpower would be needed to remove the debris.

In the second phase of the project, silt and debris were to be removed from a 500-foot stretch of the stream between Rennes Street and Cambray Road. Once the Rockaway River (also included in a debris removal project) and Hatfield Creek streams in the township are free of debris and silt, water can flow properly and backup, which leads to flooding, would be mitigated.