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The Bronx River, approximately long, flows through southeast New York in the United States and drains an area of .〔 It is named after colonial settler Jonas Bronck. The Bronx River is the only fresh water river in New York City.〔; all the other rivers within the city are straits and tidal estuaries, and the tidal lower reach of the Hudson River.〕 It originally rose in what is now the Kensico Reservoir, in Westchester County north of New York City. With the construction of the Kensico Dam in 1885, however, the river was cut off from its natural headwaters and today a small tributary stream serves as its source. The Bronx River flows south past White Plains, then south-southwest through the northern suburbs, passing through Edgemont, Tuckahoe, Eastchester, and Bronxville. It forms the border between the large cities of Yonkers and Mount Vernon, and flows into the northern end of The Bronx, southward through Bronx Park, New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo and continues through urbanized areas of the South Bronx where it divides East Bronx from West Bronx. It empties into the East River, a tidal strait connected to Long Island Sound, between the Soundview and Hunts Point neighborhoods. In the 17th century, the river - called by the natives "Aquehung" - served as a boundary between loosely associated bands under sachems of the informal confederacy of the Weckquaeskeck, Europeanized as the Wappinger; the east bank of the river was the boundary for the Siwanoy, clammers and fishermen. The same line would be retained when manors were granted to the Dutch and the English.〔( Barbara Shay MacDonald (Scarsdale Historical Society), "The Bronx River: Boundary of Indian Tribes, Colonies, Manors, Cities and Villages" )〕 The Algonkian significance of the name is variously reported; the ''acca-'' element, as represented in the Long Island place-name Accabonac, was deformed into the more familiar, suitably watery European phoneme ''aque-''. The tract purchased by Jonas Bronck in 1639 lay between the Harlem River and the river that came to be called "Bronck's river".〔"...a certain Tract of land bounded on the east by the river Aquehung or Bronxkx to the midst of the river..." is part of the description of the tract called West Farms in an agreement of 12 March 1663 signed by nine sachems and Edward Jessup and John Richardson, quoted in A. Hatfield Jr., "Early Settlers of West Farms", ''New York Genealogical and Biographical Record'' (1913), reprint p.4f.〕 ==Pollution== During the 19th and 20th centuries, the river became a natural sewer into which industrial waste was poured every day. An early mill on the industrialized river was the Lorillard Snuff Mill, preserved in the grounds of the New York Botanical Garden. With the decline of manufacturing in the area, the river continued to receive water pollution from the communities that lined its banks. In December 1948, flow of the Bronx River was changed to eliminate a curve in its course in Bronxville, to create land in the old riverbed on which to construct an addition to Lawrence Hospital. During the excavations a large sand bar was uncovered where sand had accumulated at the bend over hundreds of years and made a sandy beach.〔 In the 21st century, environmental groups including the Bronx River Alliance proposed to return the river to its original state as a clean waterway.〔Bronx River Alliance. Bronx, NY. ("What We Do." ) Accessed 2009-02-26.〕 The river became a favorite project of U.S. Representative José Serrano, who secured US$14.6 million in federal funding to support the rehabilitation of the waterway, into which some Westchester towns continued to discharge raw sewage intermittently, as sanitary sewer overflows, as late as 2006. Under a November 28, 2006 agreement, the municipalities of Scarsdale, White Plains, Mount Vernon and Greenburgh agreed to stop dumping sewage in the Bronx River by May 1, 2007. Urban runoff pollution continues to be a serious problem for the river. The Bronx River Watershed Coalition, a partnership of local and state agencies, citizen groups and non-profit organizations, have developed watershed management plans to reduce stormwater pollution and improve water quality.〔Westchester County Department of Planning, White Plains, NY. ("Bronx River Watershed Coalition." ) Accessed 2009-02-27.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bronx River」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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