Floating Debris on the River

Day 1 of 5 day patrol - Ossining to Kingston

River at some locations is full of floating debris, mostly wood, millions of water chestnut seeds, some trash. There was a monster high tide a few days ago and there has been very little wind since. All this stuff was lifted off the bank by the high water and it’ll take wind to sweep it all back ashore. It forms long lines or rafts where it’s being captured by the current. Some you can steer around, others you just have to slide through dead slow.

These photos taken between Storm King and Newburg - Beacon Bridges.

Day 2 of 5 day patrol- Kingston north

Early Sunday morning at Kingston. Unloading “days catch” from yesterday. Containers, one tire on rim, dock foam, bait containers. This is stuff just grabbed with dip net underway yesterday.

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.