Saturday, November 01, 2008

Industrial polluter near Saugerties busted!

These photos were taken at an industrial site north of Saugerties, where industrial by-products have been illegally discharged for years into a large secluded fresh water wetland, which flows into the Hudson. The pH of the effluent is 12.3, which is close to the pH of Clorox! The wetland is completely dead. This case started with a tip from a local resident in 2005. We conducted multiple boat and aerial patrols, which turned up TWO separate industrial pollution sources. Details are omitted here because these cases are active and being monitored by Riverkeeper. But you’ll be pleased to know that both polluters were BUSTED. Both discharges have been stopped and the wetland will be restored.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Testing Water Quality


Scientist Andy Juhl and assistant Carol Knudson from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory processing samples. We “cook” the microbial samples for 24 hours at 41 degrees centigrade in our onboard incubator. This equipment allows us to sample day after day on patrol without having to return to the Lamont lab every evening.