An email from our friends at Urban Divers:
“For now 10 years, from the beginning of our inception DEP was mandated by STATE and FEDERAL law to began mitigating its failure to comply with the Clean Water Act for illegally Discharging RAW UNTREATED SEWAGE IN OUR WATERWAYS. 
A condition that causes record beach closures, and is also known to introduce the largest concentration of pathogens ( disease causing bacteria) in our waterways.
DEP was charged to establish the USE, STANDARD and ATTAINMENT public outreach program. A Study with community involvement to work together to come up with ideas and implement solutions to this violation. Millions of dollars was invested in this project. DEP was to prioritize the areas of greatest impact.
Though the Harlem River has over 37 points that get direct discharges from WARD ISLAND… DEP’s largest regional waste treatment plant…. NO ATTENTION WAS GIVEN TO THE HARLEM RIVER and many other impacted communities.
TODAY now 11yrs down the line… ALL we are seeing is DEP’s new postage of warning signs NOT TO SWIM, KAYAK, OR FISH IN THE RIVER….. IS THAT A SOLUTION?
IS DEP’s MESSAGE- “F ( german) YOU” NEW YORKERS- DARE NOT SWIM, KAYAK or FISH in THE HARLEM RIVER THAT WE ( DEP) ARE POLLUTING?
THIS IS DARN INCEDIOUS AFTER 11YRS OF WAITING FOR AN EFFECTING SOLUTION TO STOP TO MOST EGREGIOUS and SHAMEFUL POLLUTER ON THE HARLEM RIVER— OUR VERY OWN NYC DEP.”