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Audio Feature: Hudson River stories
Feb 24, 2018 10:55 am
Here are some stories from the Hudson River this week. Click here to hear an audio version of this report. (4:03)
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island were between 33 and 37 degrees, with ice on top of some of the river.
• Brian Nearing is reporting for the Times Union testing has revealed that parts of the Hudson River, from New York City to Troy, contain elevated levels of caffeine, and sometimes concerning levels of 16 different pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, drugs for treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol, epilepsy, ulcers and heartburn, and the aspirin substitute acetaminophen. The drugs could either be passing through human bodies into sewer systems or coming directly from pills being flushed down toilets. "Some levels are high enough that you could be concerned about fish and other aquatic organisms," said Andrew Juhl, an aquatic biologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, who co-authored the peer-reviewed study. "Right now, we don't know what the effects might be. Our point right now is to say these pharmaceuticals are there, and here's the pattern throughout the river." The water was sampled at more than 70 spots along the river during the period between May and July 2016. The study was a collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Riverkeeper, Lamont-Doherty and Queens College. It appears in the journal Water Research. Read the full story in the Times Union.
• On Feb. 22 the environmental group Riverkeeper released a report called "Drinking Source Water Protection Scorecard Review for Seven Hudson Communities." It is "a review of programs and policies to protect drinking water supplies for the Towns of Esopus, Hyde Park and Lloyd, the City and Town of Poughkeepsie, and the Town and Village of Rhinebeck." The report was authored by the Center for Watershed Protection and commissioned by Riverkeeper. "Updates are needed to state Source Water Assessments, which are required under the Safe Drinking Water Act to identify potential threats to public drinking water supplies from pollution sources such as sewage treatment plants and hazardous waste sites. The assessments are seldom used, over 12 years old, and rely on 25-year-old data," the report said. "An update for the seven mid-Hudson communities should include the risk of crude oil spills from commercial traffic on the Hudson. In the event of a spill, water reserves would run out in as little as 12 hours."
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island were between 33 and 37 degrees, with ice on top of some of the river.
• Brian Nearing is reporting for the Times Union testing has revealed that parts of the Hudson River, from New York City to Troy, contain elevated levels of caffeine, and sometimes concerning levels of 16 different pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, drugs for treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol, epilepsy, ulcers and heartburn, and the aspirin substitute acetaminophen. The drugs could either be passing through human bodies into sewer systems or coming directly from pills being flushed down toilets. "Some levels are high enough that you could be concerned about fish and other aquatic organisms," said Andrew Juhl, an aquatic biologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, who co-authored the peer-reviewed study. "Right now, we don't know what the effects might be. Our point right now is to say these pharmaceuticals are there, and here's the pattern throughout the river." The water was sampled at more than 70 spots along the river during the period between May and July 2016. The study was a collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Riverkeeper, Lamont-Doherty and Queens College. It appears in the journal Water Research. Read the full story in the Times Union.
• On Feb. 22 the environmental group Riverkeeper released a report called "Drinking Source Water Protection Scorecard Review for Seven Hudson Communities." It is "a review of programs and policies to protect drinking water supplies for the Towns of Esopus, Hyde Park and Lloyd, the City and Town of Poughkeepsie, and the Town and Village of Rhinebeck." The report was authored by the Center for Watershed Protection and commissioned by Riverkeeper. "Updates are needed to state Source Water Assessments, which are required under the Safe Drinking Water Act to identify potential threats to public drinking water supplies from pollution sources such as sewage treatment plants and hazardous waste sites. The assessments are seldom used, over 12 years old, and rely on 25-year-old data," the report said. "An update for the seven mid-Hudson communities should include the risk of crude oil spills from commercial traffic on the Hudson. In the event of a spill, water reserves would run out in as little as 12 hours."