Pompton Dam

Vermeule, Decommissioning Engineer for the Morris Canal, working beneath the auspices of Dr. Henry B. Kümmel, General Manager of the Morris Canal and former New Jersey State Geologist, argued against the removal the dam on the basis that doing so would reduce the surrounding lands to a series of "ill smelling mud flats," thus devaluing the land.

Instead, the State of New Jersey, which at this time owned the Morris Canal, opted to upgrade the dam to a concrete structure providing the same operation as it had previously performed.

Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, representatives of a regional environmentalist faction, have demanded the removal of the Pompton Dam, based upon their unsubstantiated claim that removing the dam would improve flooding conditions in Pompton Lakes and Riverdale upstream.

[4] On March 29, 2012, an article was published in the Suburban Trends newspaper describing concerns raised by Pequannock Township elected officials over the scheduled removal of the structure, based upon evidence presented at the March township council meeting by local resident Christopher Lotito, regarding inconsistencies in the state's planning process for the project.

This letter advocated the removal of the dam structure as a solution to flooding in the Passaic River Basin.