8 Bridges Swim in the Harbor

Yesterday we had the opportunity to meet up with the 8 Bridges Swim in New York Harbor as they approached their final destination at the Verrazano.  

Now in its second year, the 8 Bridges Swim ran for a week from the Rip Van Winkle Bridge near Catskill to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City, covering 120 miles of river.  Part of the proceeds from the swim benefit Riverkeeper's water quality program.

There's something pretty magical about seeing all these folks in the water, swimming to raise awareness for the Hudson River as giant tugs and tankers go by. I always feel a bit like a bug in a bowling alley when patrolling through the Harbor, so I can't even imagine what it's like to be swimming!

Credit: Greg Porteus

Credit: Rob Friedman

Credit: Rob Friedman

Cheers to our friends at Launch 5 and all participants for another successful year of swimming for a clean Hudson River!

"How Is the Water?" Report Released

Today we released our report on sewage contamination in the Hudson River Estuary, "How Is the Water?"

It was a big group effort - 5 years to collect the data and 5 months to write and release the report. I'm sure this will not be our last report on the sewage contamination we are battling. It's just another point in an ongoing conversation.

We were honored to be joined by New York State Senator Adriano Espaillat and New York State Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti. We will be working with both representatives on a Sewage Right to Know law for New Yorkers.

Download the report and learn about patterns and sources of sewage in the Hudson, and view some of the preliminary news coverage:

New York Times

WCBS Radio

WNYC

Channel Thirteen

Associated Press

WAMC

The Village Voice Blog

Massive Sewage Spill in NYC

A catastrophic fire at the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant on the upper westside of Manhattan last Wednesday, July 20^th, led to a temporary plant shutdown and the dumping of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. The untreated sewage flowed into the water from numerous pipes along the shoreline of Manhattan.

Despite the huge volume of wastewater - an estimated 120 million gallons a day for three days - many city residents were unaware of the spill, or learned of it too late to avoid contact with the contaminated water.

Swimmers in the park just north of the plant on 7/21

We approached them in the patrol boat and warned them

The morning after the fire Riverkeeper conducted the first of three water quality sampling runs in the waters around Manhattan Island, including New York Harbor and sites as far north as the Tappan Zee Bridge.

On Thursday the 21^st, the first full day of the sewage discharge, we found extremely high levels of sewage contamination along the west shore of Manhattan, which at the time of sampling, did not extend north to Yonkers or south of the Battery. Sewage contamination was lower in the middle of the river, and still lower on the New Jersey side. In fact, on the New Jersey side, Enterococcus levels were “acceptable” per EPA guidelines.

On Friday the 22^nd our sampling indicated similar results, with the highest contamination area being the west side of Manhattan. All sampling occurred before the North River Plant resumed partial operation on the evening of Friday, 7/22. It’s important to note that as of Friday evening, although the contamination pattern was similar and while contamination levels were lower than on the first day of sampling, some areas along the Manhattan shoreline were still very contaminated.

We sampled again today, Monday the 25^th. An update with additional data will be posted soon.

In the meantime for more information on the spill:

Spill Update on Riverkeeper.org

After Blaze, Sewage Floods City Rivers on NYTimes.com

On the Hudson with the Water Quality Mavens on NYTimes.com

Plants Now Working at Harlem Plant on CBS local news

More Photos from the 8 Bridges Swim

Our friend, Greg Porteus, pilot and foundation president of Launch 5, just sent us these great photos from the 8 Bridges Swim. Thank you again to the event organizers for including us in this incredible event, and congrats on completing the swim!

Jumping in!

Splash!

The Fletcher meets the swimmers

Capt. Lipscomb and Boat and Water Quality Program Staff member, Rob Friedman

It's always a pleasure collaborating with Launch 5

photo credit: Greg Porteus

The 8 Bridges Swim

Yesterday we had the privilege of bringing several journalists out on the river to cover the 8 Bridges Swim. The 8 Bridges Swim is running from the Rip Van Winkle Bridge near Catskill to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City, covering 120 miles of river. The swim is benefitting Riverkeeper, Launch 5, and Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimming Inc.

Here's some footage taken by our friends from Launch 5:

And some photos of the swimmers as they were interviewed by a journalist from the Journal News:

Thank you to the 8 Bridges team for including us in their event, and also highlighting the need for improved water quality in the Hudson River.

photo credit: Rob Friedman

The 4th of July on Patrol

We took these photos as we came southbound from Waterford folllowing the completion of our June water quality patrol. Results from our June patrol will be posted shortly.

Turtles and cormorants at Binnen Kill

Bald (headed) Eagle at Rattlesnake Island

Great Blue Heron at Catskill Point.

A little parade of boats from Hop O Nose Marina at Catskill under the Rip Van Winkle Bridge

Kayak hitchhiker at Four Mile Point

Then 3 guys in a broken down boat at Hudson…towed them to Catskill launch ramp

Folks at Coxsackie

Rip Van Winkle Bridge

The beautiful Hudson showing off this morning…

Frederic Church’s home (on hilltop) in morning ground fog

Swimming at Cold Spring & Garrison

In Putnam County there are no official beaches but people enjoy the Hudson from the shore wherever they can. On our current patrol north we passed Garrison and Cold Spring on Wednesday, a beautiful warm day. We saw two adventurous cliff divers in Garrison and plenty of people enjoying the water at Little Stony Point.

Splash Down in Garrison!

Busy Little Stony Point

Water quality findings at Little Stony Point.

Water Quality Sampling Season Begins

The Water Quality Sampling Season for 2011 has officially begun and with it life gets even busier!

Today we sent out our first monthly Water Quality Report of the year - for our May patrol - and a flurry of emails from throughout the Hudson Valley quickly filled our inboxes. We hear from all types of folks when these reports go out - some with questions, some sharing observations and others providing encouragement. It takes us a week or more to sort through them and reply but it's worth the effort. The public is our partner on this project - we cannot improve water quality in the Hudson without an engaged public. With the public we most certainly can, one community and waterfront at a time.

Carol Knudson (Columbia U) and John approaching mouth of Furnace Brook on east side of Haverstraw Bay to collect a sample

If you don't already receive our monthly water quality reports you should sign up, it's a good tale from the river painstakingly written by John and combined with data and artwork by yours truly. To sign up send an email to info@riverkeeper.org and ask to be put on the Water Quality list. Or sign up for all Riverkeeper emails.

Here is the narrative from May, click the link below to see the full report with data. If you find it interesting share it with friends and neighbors.

First sampling patrol of 2011 - May 16 through May 19
Highlights

Our May patrol was rainy, wet and nasty. It rained between 1.2 and 2.5 inches during and before our patrol (with local heavy rain every day as we worked north) and, as a result, we found more unacceptable water quality than ever before. Not one sample site north of Poughkeepsie was “acceptable.” This is stunning. I've never been on a patrol like this one. Read on to see how the Hudson River can be regularly and dramatically compromised by sewage releases triggered by something as simple as a few inches of rain.

Of 74 sampling locations:
59 (80%) were “unacceptable”
7 (9%) were “possible risk”
8 (11%) were “acceptable”

Rain events often lead to sewage overflows and more untreated sewage in the Hudson (which we detect as higher Entero counts). While we find unacceptable levels of sewage indicators at some locations and times even in dry weather, the water quality at most of our sampling locations degrades during and after rain. Sometimes the entire river is affected. Why? Because rainfall causes many sewer systems to overload and discharge raw sewage into the Hudson and its tributaries. The solution? We know it and, in some places, are already doing it: we need to build new sewage treatment infrastructure and repair/upgrade existing plants and systems. First, we have to reduce and then fully treat our wastewater.

Take your time looking at the data figure below; we won’t see too many patrols like this one… I hope.

Some Observations

NY Harbor (day 1): All sites were either “unacceptable” or “possible risk”. Note that one of the lowest cell counts we found was right in the upwelling effluent at the massive North River sewer plant near 125th street. Take away: once the sewage reaches the plant it is pretty effectively treated. In NYC the problem isn’t with the plants; it’s with all the pipes delivering the combined sewage and rain TO the 14 NYC sewer plants. The plumbing can’t handle the flow so the city has built (and NYS permits) about 480 Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) to release the overburden of sewage and rain during wet weather events into the River and Harbor – around 30 billion gallons a year. Yes, billion, no typo.

Yonkers to Peekskill (day 2): The Westchester sewer plant at Yonkers tested “acceptable,” another example of a plant doing its job pretty well. Money invested in wastewater treatment makes water quality better, it’s simple. However, all the other near shore sites in this section of river were “unacceptable.” Several of our sampling sites recorded their highest Entero counts so far since 2006 when we started measuring Entero in this section of the River.

But look at the data and you’ll see that all our “mid-River” sample sites in this area had much lower Entero counts compared to the near shore sites. The data clearly shows that the contamination originates at the shore, where humans are, and the middle of the deep water river is buffered by the massive volume of water in the Hudson. Still, it’s impressive to note that even the middle of the River (where it’s two to three miles wide) was impacted to some degree by sewage contamination when we sampled on May 17th. It takes a whole lot of poop to do that.

Bear Mountain to Port Ewen (day 3): Bravo to Cold Spring and Little Stony Point, both sample sites were “acceptable”. That’s no small feat for this month’s survey! Note also that Poughkeepsie ramp and the deep-water site at the Poughkeepsie drinking water intake had low counts compared to our samples for the rest of the estuary this month. So nice going Poughkeepsie as well.

The drinking water intake at Port Ewen, a couple miles south of Rondout Creek, didn’t fare so well. The Entero count was 199. The highest we’ve measured there was 1733 in July 2009 (a really rainy summer). So the drinking water intake is withdrawing water that the EPA says you shouldn’t swim in. Let’s hope the disinfection systems are up to the job.

Rondout Creek/Kingston to Waterford (day 4): My guess is that the sewage contamination arriving at Port Ewen is from the Rondout. The tide was ebbing when we sampled this time. Look at the data for the Rondout sites below (Eddyville, Kingston public dock, Kingston sewage treatment plant outfall). But please don’t rush to put all the blame on Kingston. Note that the Entero count at Eddyville (upstream from Kingston) was higher than our system can measure in fresh water, >2420 cells/100ml. That’s higher (we just don’t know how much) than the sample I took right next to one of the Kingston Combined Sewer Overflows at the Kingston Public Dock. So, that day, the water entering the tidal portion of the Rondout from the upper Rondout watershed had more Entero. Kingston is clearly not the only problem affecting water quality on the tidal portion of Rondout Creek.

You may notice that at the very northern end of the survey area Entero counts started to come down. That’s because the last heavy rain in that area took place the night before. So the “relatively” less contaminated water coming in from the Upper Hudson and the Mohawk was pushing the plug of contamination (released earlier by the CSOs and sewer plants in the Capitol District) south. Check the cell counts for Bethlehem, Castleton, Coeymans and Coxsackie. My bet is that some, maybe most, of the Entero we measured at those communities on 5/19 came down from the Capitol District. We’ve seen this pattern before when we sample within 48 hours after a heavy rain event in the Albany area.

Until next month,
John Lipscomb
Riverkeeper patrol boat "R. Ian Fletcher"

View full report with data.

This month our sampling patrol was carried out aboard “Launch 5”

while our boat was in final stages of a major rebuild.

Many thanks to Greg Porteus, owner of “Launch 5”

Heavy rain in May resulted in this massive flow of water over the dam at Troy from the upper Hudson

When It Rains, It Pours...Raw Sewage

Wall Street Journal story on the sewage and storm water overflow problems in the waters around New York City:

Many old communities in the Hudson Valley have Combined Sewage Overflows (CSOs) and as a result their local waterways suffer sewage contamination when it rains. Green infrastructure investments and sewage system upgrades can greatly reduce the amount of combined sewage and storm water released, reducing pollution.

Learn more about NYC's Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) problems on Riverkeeper.org

Sewage Overflows into the Saw Mill River at Yonkers

Clearwater Educator Maija Neimisto and Yonkers resident Andy Hudak

sample the discharge.

While on our October water quality sampling patrol, friends from Clearwater alerted us to a sewage discharge in Yonkers. With their help, and the help of a local kayaker, Andy Hudak, samples were taken and delivered to the patrol boat for incubation. The results?

The samples reach the maximum that our system can read - 24,196 Enterococcus per 100/ml - that's 400 times greater than the maximum safe level of Enterococcus as defined in the EPA clean water standards.

Local and State agencies knew about the discharge - an estimated 4.4 million gallons coming from a broken sewage main in Tarrytown. Was the public notified? No. Were people kayaking and fishing nearby? Yes.

New York State needs a Sewage Right to Know law to ensure that our public health officials take the actions necessary to protect the public from contact with known sewage overflows when they occur.

Read more on Riverkeeper.org.

Sewage Discharge at Troy

On August 25^th we found a dry weather sewage discharge at Troy. I contacted NYSDEC via cell. An Environmental Conservation Officer met me at Troy and we returned to document the site together. DEC and Riverkeeper contacted City of Troy independently and the outfall was shut off. This event will be part of the evidence used by DEC in a potential enforcement action against Troy. The sample bottle contains sewage and toilet paper fragments – microbial levels were too high to measure – “off the chart.”

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.

Testing Water Quality at Kingston

Collecting a sample directly from the outfall of the Kingston sewage treatment plant,

which discharges into Rondout Creek in downtown Kingston.

Rondout Creek is heavily used by fishermen, recreational boaters, kayakers and swimmers. We sample at three locations during every patrol. Some days the cleanest water we find is at the sewage treatment plant discharge. That means that raw untreated sewage is entering the creek at other locations. The local health department does not test in Rondout Creek and posts no warnings for the public. Meanwhile, the DEC renews permits to the City of Kingston for raw sewage overflows and Kingston plans to build a few thousand new housing units that will tap into the existing sewage treatment system.

Kids Swimming in the Hudson

Kids swimming in the Hudson from a boat club in Westchester

Riverkeeper has been conducting a water quality survey since the fall of 2006. These photos show why.

Kids swimming in the Hudson from the Harlem River at High Bridge

People are swimming everywhere in the Hudson and in NY Harbor. We believe that the public has a right to know if the water they swim in is safe. It SHOULD be safe 37 years after passage of the Clean Water Act. But that’s often not the case. We hope our data will encourage the public to become more engaged and demand water quality information from NY State and county health departments.

Beach Cleanup in Haverstraw

Sign on the public beach at Haverstraw.

Beach cleanup at "Black Beach" with Keep Rockland Beautiful staff and volunteers.

This beach is accessible by boat only so we assist with cleanups. It's located just south of Tilcon loading docks at Haverstraw.

Homeward Bound Hound

Upper Hudson north of the Federal Dam at Troy

Photo by John Lipscomb

This photo was taken in July 2005

This is a photo was taken on the Upper Hudson – above the estuary – north of the Federal lock at Troy and north of Waterford and the Mohawk River.

We are looking north east. If the viewer turned left you would see the first lock of the Champlain Canal about a third of a mile north. If the viewer turned around 180 degrees you'd see a GE Silicones Plant discharge which has a pollution discharge permit from NYSDEC.

You can’t tell from the photo but there are 6 or 7 small flood plain islands ahead and to the left – below the dam at Lock 1. The one on the left (where the boats are tied up) is owned by a local boat club and is used for swimming and picnics. Straight ahead is Fiona Island which was donated to Riverkeeper several years ago and is preserved wild - as habitat. We anchor at this spot each month to check Fiona Island, collect water samples, etc. Fort Edward is about 30 miles farther north – at Lock 7. The General Electric PCB dredging will take place between here and Fort Edward.

Testing for beach safety in Ulster County?

Public swimming beach at Kingston Point just north of Rondout Creek. The area has had record rains the last three days which causes many sewage plants to overflow into the Hudson. Yet here we see people swimming. Riverkeeper contacted the Ulster County Health Department and asked if water quality was routinely tested after wet weather events to check for sewage related contamination at this public beach.

No, testing is done only three times a year; on 7/13, 8/3 and 8/17. With all the talk of opening additional swimming beaches on the Hudson shouldn't testing be more thorough and shouldn't testing be done after storms as a matter of course?