New York City and Westchester County are leading an effort to create a water quality improvement plan for the Bronx River and its tributaries by 2007.

The Bronx River flows from Westchester through the Bronx to Long Island Sound, and officials are hoping to reduce the amount of polluted stormwater running into the river and its tributaries.

“The Bronx River Parkway Reservation is a cornerstone of the county parks system,” Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano said in a statement. “The recreational and aesthetic values of the park are directly tied to the quality of the river itself.”

The area drained by the Bronx River and its tributaries covers about 48 square miles in Westchester. The river runs for 13 miles in Westchester from the Kensico Reservoir southward into the Bronx, emptying into the East River, which then empties into Long Island Sound. The Bronx River is about 20 miles long.

Along much of its length in Westchester County and the northern Bronx, the river is paralleled by the Bronx River Parkway. The Bronx is the only New York City borough that has freshwater river running through it.

Officials and supervisors from several Westchester communities signed the non-binding agreement as well as county, state and New York City agencies. Three groups – the Bronx River Alliance, Bronx River Conservancy and Kensico Environmental Enhancement Program – have also signed on to help create the plan.

The Bronx-based Bronx River Alliance, which has a mission “to serve as a coordinated voice for the river and work in harmonious partnership to protect, improve and restore the Bronx River corridor and greenway so that they can be healthy ecological, recreational, educational and economic resources for the communities through which the river flows,” is playing a key role in the effort.

According to the Bronx River Alliance Web site, the group is dedicated to the Bronx River through a variety of programs aimed at protecting the river and educating the public.

“The Bronx River Alliance has the Ecological Restoration and Management Program, which promotes the protection, restoration, and management of the terrestrial and aquatic resources of the Bronx River watershed through rigorous and sound planning, research, and community stewardship,” the Web site stated: “The Ecology Team, a committee of scientists, city, state, and federal agencies and local community representatives, serves as a place to discuss, evaluate, and prioritize environmental studies and on-the-ground projects that promote ecological health of the river and its watershed.”

The Education Program, which is a committee of teachers, scientists, and community educators, incorporates the river and its watershed into education. The Greenway Program promotes and supports publicly accessible green space along the Bronx River; the Outreach Program works to spur more community support and involvement.

The Bronx River Alliance and New York City agencies have been working on improvement plans for the Bronx portion of the Bronx River watershed.

The new non-binding agreement builds on the work over the last two years of the Watershed Advisory Committee 7 and will now be known as the Bronx River Watershed Coalition.

Mayors and supervisors from more than a dozen municipalities that fall within the Bronx River drainage basin have agreed to work together to develop a plan for the river and its tributaries, which together make up the drainage basin or watershed.

The Westchester County Department of Planning, whose staff is analyzing conditions in the watershed to help develop recommendations for strengthening municipal land use regulations and improving stormwater management infrastructure along the river and its tributaries, is working on development of the comprehensive watershed management plan.

The department has also hired nationally recognized consultants to evaluate the river, its tributaries and wetlands and make recommendations for improving them.

The department is also working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to develop the Bronx River Ecosystem Restoration Study. This study, using federal appropriations and county and city funding, is focused on improving the river’s ecological value, which will include the coalition’s recommendations for improving water quality.