Today brought a rare visitor to the North River: the DEP sludge barge Udalls Cove, which I last saw on the North River in September 2024. The high capacity barge dates back to the days when residual solids were dumped offshore and is now rarely used, generally sitting moored in reserve at the Wards Island water treatment plant. But Tuesday saw the barge towed up to the North River treatment plant with Patrice McAllister in the notch and Shannon alongside.

Two of the DEP’s five sludge tankers, the Hunts Point and the North River, have been out of service for some time and a third, the Rockaway, also appears to be tied up at Caddells boatyard for the past few weeks, and this might explain why the old barge has been reactivated. The DEP has also been employing the privately owned Maria sludge barge to service the North River plant this week.

As for the tugs, we used to see Patrice on the North River periodically when she was contracted to move the RCM 262 barge, but I have not seen her since Rose Cay stopped operating last year and this is the first time I have seen Shannon McAllister on the North River.