WGXC-90.7 FM
Audio Feature: Hudson River stories
May 06, 2017 9:30 am
Here are some stories from the Hudson River this week. Click here to hear an audio version of this report.
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River near Schodack Island have been between 56 and 59 degrees.
• The Albany Times Union reported that on May 4 a Hudson River fisherman discovered a woman's body tangled in a branch along the Hudson River shore near Cohoes.
• The city of Hudson and village of Catskill on Sun., Apr. 30, following heavy rains, released sewage into the Hudson River and Catskill Creek, respectively. The Village of Catskill Wastewater Treatment Plant said in a report released Monday, the untreated discharge was released into Catskill Creek at the rate of 50 gallons per minute, over a two-hour period, for a total overflow of 6,000 gallons. The report warned of the potential impact on fishing in the creek. The City of Hudson Wastewater Treatment Facility reported it discharged 100,000 gallons of disinfected primary effluent, or wastewater, into the Hudson River, in the city's North Bay, for nearly an hour on Sunday. State law requires that all discharges of untreated and partially treated sewage discharges be reported to the state Department of Environmental Conservation within two hours of discovery, and within four hours of discovery to the public and adjoining municipalities. There have been several other sewage releases along the Hudson in recent days with heavy rains, and more rain forecast.
• On May 2, a year since the City of Newburgh’s drinking water was determined to be polluted, the Riverkeeper activist group called on the Department of Defense to stop the flow of polluted water from the Stewart Air National Guard Base. On May 2, 2016, Newburgh City Manager Michael Ciaravino declared a state of emergency there, as test results showed levels of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or PFOS, in the city’s primary drinking water reservoir, Lake Washington. The PFOS measured above advisory levels set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. United States Democratic Leader Charles Schumer said: “Since the PFOS-contamination of Newburgh’s water was revealed, I have repeatedly called on the Department of Defense to stop the contamination at its source and immediately remediate all pollution with all due speed. While we have made progress in stopping local residents’ exposure to the tainted water, DOD and the Air Force have not moved fast enough or comprehensively enough to get the job done. I will continue to work with community leaders and groups like Riverkeeper to keep the pressure on the Air Force and DOD to finalize a plan and take the actions now that can stem current pollution and clean up the mess they made over the years in and around Stewart Air Force base.”
• May 6 is Riverkeeper's 6th Annual Hudson River clean-up. Locally, there are these clean-up locations:
GREENE COUNTY
Coxsackie: Riverside Park Shoreline Cleanup
COLUMBIA COUNTY
Hudson: Greenport Conservation Area Cleanup
Hudson: North Bay Cleanup
Germantown: Hudson River Shoreline Cleanup by Land from Ernest R. Lasher Memorial Park
Stuyvesant: Stuyvesant Landing Cleanup, Swyer Preserve, Nutten Hook Cleanup
Stuyvesant: Stuyvesant Falls and Sandbar Park Cleanup
• The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River near Schodack Island have been between 56 and 59 degrees.
• The Albany Times Union reported that on May 4 a Hudson River fisherman discovered a woman's body tangled in a branch along the Hudson River shore near Cohoes.
• The city of Hudson and village of Catskill on Sun., Apr. 30, following heavy rains, released sewage into the Hudson River and Catskill Creek, respectively. The Village of Catskill Wastewater Treatment Plant said in a report released Monday, the untreated discharge was released into Catskill Creek at the rate of 50 gallons per minute, over a two-hour period, for a total overflow of 6,000 gallons. The report warned of the potential impact on fishing in the creek. The City of Hudson Wastewater Treatment Facility reported it discharged 100,000 gallons of disinfected primary effluent, or wastewater, into the Hudson River, in the city's North Bay, for nearly an hour on Sunday. State law requires that all discharges of untreated and partially treated sewage discharges be reported to the state Department of Environmental Conservation within two hours of discovery, and within four hours of discovery to the public and adjoining municipalities. There have been several other sewage releases along the Hudson in recent days with heavy rains, and more rain forecast.
• On May 2, a year since the City of Newburgh’s drinking water was determined to be polluted, the Riverkeeper activist group called on the Department of Defense to stop the flow of polluted water from the Stewart Air National Guard Base. On May 2, 2016, Newburgh City Manager Michael Ciaravino declared a state of emergency there, as test results showed levels of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or PFOS, in the city’s primary drinking water reservoir, Lake Washington. The PFOS measured above advisory levels set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. United States Democratic Leader Charles Schumer said: “Since the PFOS-contamination of Newburgh’s water was revealed, I have repeatedly called on the Department of Defense to stop the contamination at its source and immediately remediate all pollution with all due speed. While we have made progress in stopping local residents’ exposure to the tainted water, DOD and the Air Force have not moved fast enough or comprehensively enough to get the job done. I will continue to work with community leaders and groups like Riverkeeper to keep the pressure on the Air Force and DOD to finalize a plan and take the actions now that can stem current pollution and clean up the mess they made over the years in and around Stewart Air Force base.”
• May 6 is Riverkeeper's 6th Annual Hudson River clean-up. Locally, there are these clean-up locations:
GREENE COUNTY
Coxsackie: Riverside Park Shoreline Cleanup
COLUMBIA COUNTY
Hudson: Greenport Conservation Area Cleanup
Hudson: North Bay Cleanup
Germantown: Hudson River Shoreline Cleanup by Land from Ernest R. Lasher Memorial Park
Stuyvesant: Stuyvesant Landing Cleanup, Swyer Preserve, Nutten Hook Cleanup
Stuyvesant: Stuyvesant Falls and Sandbar Park Cleanup