Cleanup efforts to address contaminations in the Passaic River are being made decades after harmful Toxins were dumped into it.

The Passaic River is one of the nation's most polluted waterways, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Efforts to clean up a 17-mile stretch of the river are in the works. It would span from Newark Bay to the Dundee Dam in Garfield. This is not the first time the river has been cleaned up.

The EPA and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection discovered Dioxin-contaminated soil at the former Diamond Alkali manufacturing facility in Newark back in the 1980s.

"All the towns that touched the river...it impacts our development. Clean water is important across the world, but just the landscape along the river you know, it just improves the quality of life," said Garfield Mayor Richard Rigoglioso.

The project to clean up the river will be split into sections. Work includes dredging, removing water from the sediment, disposing of it and capping, which will hopefully improve water quality for future generations.

"If any portion of the river is contaminated, it affects us all," said Passaic Mayor Hector Lora.

Those who polluted the river are paying for the cleanup.

Mayors along the Passaic River say if all goes as planned, the project is expected to start in the next three to five years.The EPA says even then, it will take years for the contamination in fish and other wildlife to decrease.