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Audio Feature: Hudson River stories

Jul 27, 2018 9:55 am
Here are some stories from the Hudson River this week. Click here to hear an audio version of this report. (4:48)

The Stevens Institute reports temperatures this week in the Hudson River at Schodack Island were between 79 and 82 degrees, about the same as last week.

Stephen Williams reports in the Daily Gazette that heavy rains this week may have reversed drought conditions, but they have also released many "combined sewer overflows" into the Hudson River. After a dry spring and early summer, the National Weather Service reported three inches of rain fell July 23 just outside of Albany, with reports of up to six inches in the northern Catskill mountains. A flash flood watch continues for Western Albany County, Western Greene County, and Western Ulster County through July 25. The U.S. Drought Monitor was listing most of upstate New York as "abnormally dry," before this week, but all the moisture from the Atlantic Ocean falling in the area should change that. "If we can get a few inches of rain this week and put some water back in the ground, we may get out of this deficit," said Steve DiRienzo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albany. Heavy rains always lead to "combined sewage overflows" into the Hudson River, and this week has been no exception. There was a 10,000-gallon discharge into the Hudson River in Glens Falls, and the cities of Troy and Rensselaer were also reporting they anticipated sewage flowing into the Hudson. Last week 118,200 gallons of untreated waste spilled into the Hudson River, according to the Poughkeepsie Water Pollution Control Plant. Read the full story in the Daily Gazette.

Patricia R. Doxsey reports in the Daily Freeman that the Ulster County Department of Health said July 26 that the Hudson River Kingston Point Beach and the beach at Ulster Landing Park in the town of Ulster; and Rifton Rec, on the Wallkill River in Esopus;, have all been reopened to swimmers. The Rip Van Winkle Beach in Saugerties, the lake at the YMCA’s Camp Seewackamano in Shokan, and the Marbletown Beach all still remain closed due to high levels of bacteria in the water. Water tests on July 24 led to the announcement. The health department will take another round of tests between the second and third week of August. The Saugerties Village Beach on the Esopus Creek was also closed for several days earlier in July due to high levels of fecal contamination. Ulster County also tests the water at Berean Park, at the Highland Reservoir; the Rip Van Winkle Campground, on the Plattekill Creek in Saugerties; and Lake Mohonk, at the Mohonk Mountain House outside of New Paltz. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

The Daily Freeman reports that the underwater search for a swimmer missing and presumed drowned in the Hudson River ended July 26 without finding him, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office said. Above sea level, though, the search continues for 49-year-old Poughkeepsie resident Paul P. Moschitta, who was trying to help another swimmer when he went under July 25 near Waryas Park. The other swimmer was rescued, but Moschitta never surfaced. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.

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