Most people think of New York City as a concrete jungle. It’s the standard trope. Gray skyscrapers, yellow taxis, and asphalt that radiates heat in July. But honestly? That’s only half the story. If you look at a map—really look at it—you’ll see that NYC is basically an archipelago. It’s a collection of islands stitched together by bridges and tunnels, surrounded by an incredible, sometimes terrifying, and often misunderstood network of NYC bodies of water.
The city has over 500 miles of coastline. That’s more than Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco combined. Crazy, right? Yet, for decades, New Yorkers turned their backs on the water. We treated the rivers like fences or, worse, like trash cans. That’s finally changing, but the history of these waters is layered with industrial grime, ecological rebirth, and some genuinely weird geography that most locals couldn't even explain to you if you asked them at a bar.
The East River Isn't Actually a River
Let’s start with the biggest lie in New York geography. The East River is a total misnomer. Scientifically speaking, it’s a salt-water tidal strait. It doesn't flow from a mountain spring to the sea; it connects the Upper New York Bay to the Long Island Sound.
Because it’s a strait, the currents are brutal. The water doesn't just flow; it surges. Back in the day, sailors used to call a specific section near 81st Street "Hell Gate." The name stuck. It was a graveyard for ships because the rocky bottom and the meeting of three different currents created whirlpools that could swallow a small vessel whole. Even today, with the rocks blasted away by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late 19th century, the East River remains a temperamental beast.
You’ve probably seen the ferries zipping across it. They look peaceful from a distance. But talk to any tugboat captain and they’ll tell you about the "drift." The water moves so fast that if you stop your engine, you aren’t just floating; you’re being launched toward the Brooklyn Bridge at four knots. It’s why the water looks so murky—it’s constantly churning up sediment from the bottom. It isn't necessarily "dirty" in the way it was in the 1970s, but it's definitely restless.
The Hudson: A River That Flows Both Ways
While the East River is a fake-out, the Hudson is the real deal, though it has its own identity crisis. The Lenape people called it Mahicantuck, which translates to "the river that flows both ways." They weren't being poetic. They were being accurate.
The Hudson is an estuary. Because it’s so deep and connected to the Atlantic, the salt water pushes up from the harbor all the way to Troy, New York. This creates a strange mix of fresh and salt water (brackish water) that supports a wild amount of biodiversity. We’re talking about Atlantic sturgeon that look like dinosaurs and can grow to be eight feet long. They’re down there, right now, swimming past the Chelsea Piers.
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The Return of the Whales
If you told someone in 1990 that they’d see a Humpback whale breaching near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, they would have called the cops on you. But it’s happening. Frequently.
According to Howard Rosenbaum of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the cleanup of the Hudson and the surrounding NYC bodies of water has led to a massive increase in Atlantic menhaden. That’s a fancy name for "bunker fish." It’s basically whale snacks. Because the water is cleaner and the food is back, the whales are coming into the harbor to eat. It’s a massive ecological win that almost nobody predicted.
Newtown Creek and the Ghost of Industry
We can't talk about NYC water without talking about the gross stuff. Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Brooklyn, is a federally designated Superfund site. It’s not a secret. It’s one of the most polluted industrial sites in the entire country.
For over a century, oil refineries, chemical plants, and copper smelters dumped everything they didn't want directly into the creek. Then there was the Greenpoint oil spill. Discovered in 1978, it was a slow-motion disaster where between 17 and 30 million gallons of oil and degraded gasoline leaked into the groundwater and the creek. To put that in perspective, that’s more than the Exxon Valdez.
If you walk across the Pulaski Bridge today, the creek looks... fine? Maybe a bit metallic. But underneath the surface is a layer of "black mayonnaise." That’s the actual term used by environmentalists and engineers. It’s a thick, toxic sludge of petroleum byproducts and heavy metals. Efforts to clean it are ongoing, led by the EPA and local groups like the Newtown Creek Alliance, but it’s a process that will take decades. It’s a stark reminder that while we love the waterfront parks, we’re still living with the consequences of the 19th-century industrial boom.
Jamaica Bay: The Wild Frontier
If the East River is the "commuter" water and the Hudson is the "scenic" water, Jamaica Bay is the wild one. Tucked behind the Rockaway Peninsula and sitting right under the flight paths of JFK Airport, this is 18,000 acres of salt marsh, islands, and open water.
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It’s part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. It feels like another planet. You can kayak through marsh grasses and see snowy egrets while a Boeing 747 roars overhead. It’s a weird, beautiful juxtaposition. But Jamaica Bay is also the city's first line of defense against climate change. During Hurricane Sandy, these marshes acted like a sponge, soaking up energy from the storm surge.
The problem is the marshes are disappearing. Sea level rise is real, and the "nitrogen loading" from wastewater treatment plants makes the marsh grass grow tall but weak, so it collapses and washes away. Scientists from the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay are currently working on ways to restore these wetlands because, quite frankly, without them, south Queens and Brooklyn are in a lot of trouble.
The Secret Canals and Forgotten Streams
Most of NYC’s freshwater streams are gone. Buried. Piped into the sewer system.
Take the Minetta Brook in Manhattan. It used to run through Greenwich Village. Legend has it that the basement of certain buildings on 5th Avenue still have "windows" or clear pipes where you can see the brook flowing by. Then there’s the Gowanus Canal. People joke about the "Gowanus Glow," but the canal was originally a creek winding through salt marshes where Dutch settlers harvested massive oysters.
Now, the Gowanus is another Superfund site. But here’s the thing: it’s becoming the hottest real estate in Brooklyn. People are paying millions to live in glass towers overlooking a canal that occasionally smells like sulfur and old tires. It speaks to our innate human desire to be near water, even if that water is a chemical soup.
What about the Bronx?
The Bronx River is actually the only freshwater river in New York City. For years, it was used as an open sewer. But thanks to the Bronx River Alliance and decades of community organizing, it’s remarkably healthy now. You can actually see beavers there. In the Bronx. Let that sink in. A beaver named Jose (and later another named Justin Beaver) moved in around 2007, marking the first time beavers were seen in the city in over 200 years.
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Navigating the Rules: Can You Actually Touch the Water?
This is where things get tricky. People ask all the time: "Can I swim in the NYC rivers?"
The short answer is: technically, yes, but why would you?
The long answer involves "CSOs" or Combined Sewer Overflows. Much of NYC has a single pipe system for both rainwater and sewage. When it rains heavily—even just a quarter of an inch—the system gets overwhelmed. To prevent sewage from backing up into people’s basements, the excess (a mix of rain and raw sewage) is diverted directly into the NYC bodies of water.
- Dry weather: The water is usually bacteria-safe for secondary contact (kayaking/boating).
- Post-rain: Stay away. For at least 48 hours.
- The Harbor Splash: There is actually an annual sanctioned swim in the Hudson, and groups like +POOL are working on creating filtered floating pools so people can safely experience the river.
Safety and Practicality
If you’re going to engage with these waters, you need to respect them. The New York Harbor is a high-traffic industrial zone. It’s like trying to ride a bicycle on the BQE. Those orange Staten Island Ferries don’t stop on a dime. Neither do the massive container ships heading to the Port of Newark.
- Check the tides: If you’re kayaking, the tide will determine if you’re having a relaxing afternoon or a soul-crushing workout against a 4mph current.
- Wear a PFD: Always. The water is colder than you think, and the currents are stronger than they look.
- Use NYC Water Trail maps: These show designated launch points. Don't just scramble over a bulkhead; it's often illegal and usually dangerous.
Actionable Next Steps for Exploring NYC Waters
Don't just look at the water from a rooftop bar. Get close to it, but do it smartly.
- Take the NYC Ferry for the price of a subway ride: It’s the cheapest boat tour in the world. The Astoria line gives you the best view of the Roosevelt Island lighthouse and the swirling currents of the East River.
- Visit the River Project at Pier 40: They have "wet labs" where you can see the actual fish pulled from the Hudson. It’ll change your perspective on what lives in that gray water.
- Volunteer with the Billion Oyster Project: They are working to restore oyster reefs to the harbor. Oysters are natural filters; a single one can filter 50 gallons of water a day. You can help build the cages or prep shells at Governor's Island.
- Walk the Harlem River Greenway: It’s one of the most underrated stretches of waterfront in the city, offering a glimpse into the northern tip of Manhattan where the geography gets surprisingly hilly and rugged.
The water is New York's greatest public space. It’s messy, it’s historical, and it’s currently undergoing a massive transformation. We’ve moved from using it as a dump to treating it as a park, and while we still have a long way to go with Superfund cleanups and CSO management, the fact that there are whales in the harbor and beavers in the Bronx tells you everything you need to know about the resilience of these ecosystems. Respect the current, watch the tide, and maybe don't jump in right after a thunderstorm.