For Capital Region residents, the notion of swimming in the Hudson River immediately conjures icky thoughts of diving into a sewer.
It’s really not that bad – at least not all the time. But when there’s heavy rain – about 90 times a year on average – aging wastewater treatment facilities in Albany and Rensselaer counties overflow, dumping millions of gallons of untreated sewage into our prized estuary. It’s estimated that in the Capital Region alone these “combined sewer overflows” result in 1.2 billion gallons of raw sewage pouring into the Hudson annually. This taints the water, rendering it unsafe for swimming, fishing and even for boating.
A study released last week by Riverkeeper, a Westchester County-based watchdog group that promotes the Hudson River cleanup, found we are heading in the right direction. Many parts of the Hudson River now have water quality that would meet federal safe-swimming guidelines, particularly after periods of dry weather. As a whole, Hudson River water quality has improved dramatically since the passage of New York’s Pure Waters Bond Act 50 years ago.
The Capital Region is doing its share and recently won the praise of Riverkeeper. After the first year of a long range plan to repair the region’s substandard municipal sewer systems, officials from Albany and Rensselaer counties are proclaiming significant progress.
The $136 million project, which aims to cut such sewage spills by 85 percent over the next 15 years, has already spent about $25 million for repairs and upgrades to local facilities. It covers Albany, Troy, Cohoes, Watervliet, Rensselaer and Green Island, which have about 150,000 homes and businesses.
Still, more needs to be done, according to the river watchdogs. We need better policing of the existing water quality standards by communities along the tributaries that flow into the Hudson. This will require restoration of staffing at the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which has been cut by 30 percent over the past two decades. Citing a state comptroller’s report, Riverkeeper says the cleanup that is under way needs another $800 million in funding for community grants through the state’s Water Infrastructure Improvement Act.
We cannot let up in this cleanup of the Hudson River, which has been called one of the great environmental success stories of our time. The Capital Region’s role in this ongoing effort’s success is heartening. Adding to that is the upcoming completion of dredging by the General Electric Co. of PCBs in the river. The company is removing large concentrations of the poisonous compound that it dumped into the Hudson from its capacitor plant in Fort Edward from late 1940s through the 1970s.
This all means that, in the not-too-distant future, we can reasonably expect to have a river where people can safely fish, boat and yes, even swim. What a gift to the next generation. What a legacy for this one.