nitestrikes
03-20-2009, 09:34 PM
Just a head's up for anyone with family in the Westchester/Hudson
valley area,
http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377 (http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377)
Sewage dump Sunday; avoid Hudson water
By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon (jfitzgib@lohud.com)
The Journal News • March 20, 2009
Westchester County health officials say people should avoid contact with Hudson River water on Sunday, when about 2 million gallons of raw sewage will flow into the waterway during a pipeline repair in North Yonkers.
The work, scheduled from midnight to 4 a.m. Sunday, calls (http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377#) for replacing a leaking flange gasket that plugs sewage in a major trunk sewer line just north of the county's Yonkers Joint Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The county received an emergency permit from the state Departmenthttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif (http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377#) of Environmental Conservation to do the work, which it attempted to perform in October. However, that repair didn't take, said Lenny Meyerson, deputy commissioner for environmental health with the Westchester County Department of Health.
"It's a very minor leak," Meyerson said yesterday. "But if you just leave it, water finds a way, eventually, once it starts leaking, of actually breaking loose. If that were to happen, there would be an uncontrolled release."
Officials are notifying marinas from Tarrytown to the Bronx along the river and sending the word to Hudson River enthusiasts to avoid contact with the water on Sunday.
But officials at the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a prominent environmental group, say that doesn't address all concerns.
"It's easy to tell kayakers to avoid the area," said Manna Jo Greene, the group's environmental director. "But it's not easy to tell fish and phytoplankton and the aquatic organisms to avoid the area, and it's certainly going to have impacts. There's no way to divert the aquatic organisms, especially those rooted in the area."
Meyerson said most of the sewage discharged during the repairs will be stored and released slowly into the system once the repairs are done. The sewage is screened to clear it of solids and chlorinated before being released into the river.
Still, he said it likely will be less than 2 million gallons, a reduction from the 2 million to 3 million gallons that were released into the river during the October work.
In addition, he said more sewage routinely is washed into the river during a heavy rainstorm. That's because Yonkers has a combined wastewater system, which means its storm drain and sewage systems are combined. In heavy rain, the system is allowed to overflow so that sewage doesn't back up into homes (http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377#). That releases millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the river.
Meyerson said that studies have determined that even that amount of runoff poses little risk.
"There's a minimum measure (the Environmental Protectionhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif (http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377#) Agency) has set, and I know the county has done some testing and has shown the impact has not been significant in terms of affecting the ecosystem," he said.
County officials said the work should be done before sunrise on Sunday, and that only direct contact with the water is discouraged for the day. After that, they maintain, the sewage will dissipate into the river's tides and currents
valley area,
http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377 (http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377)
Sewage dump Sunday; avoid Hudson water
By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon (jfitzgib@lohud.com)
The Journal News • March 20, 2009
Westchester County health officials say people should avoid contact with Hudson River water on Sunday, when about 2 million gallons of raw sewage will flow into the waterway during a pipeline repair in North Yonkers.
The work, scheduled from midnight to 4 a.m. Sunday, calls (http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377#) for replacing a leaking flange gasket that plugs sewage in a major trunk sewer line just north of the county's Yonkers Joint Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The county received an emergency permit from the state Departmenthttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif (http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377#) of Environmental Conservation to do the work, which it attempted to perform in October. However, that repair didn't take, said Lenny Meyerson, deputy commissioner for environmental health with the Westchester County Department of Health.
"It's a very minor leak," Meyerson said yesterday. "But if you just leave it, water finds a way, eventually, once it starts leaking, of actually breaking loose. If that were to happen, there would be an uncontrolled release."
Officials are notifying marinas from Tarrytown to the Bronx along the river and sending the word to Hudson River enthusiasts to avoid contact with the water on Sunday.
But officials at the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a prominent environmental group, say that doesn't address all concerns.
"It's easy to tell kayakers to avoid the area," said Manna Jo Greene, the group's environmental director. "But it's not easy to tell fish and phytoplankton and the aquatic organisms to avoid the area, and it's certainly going to have impacts. There's no way to divert the aquatic organisms, especially those rooted in the area."
Meyerson said most of the sewage discharged during the repairs will be stored and released slowly into the system once the repairs are done. The sewage is screened to clear it of solids and chlorinated before being released into the river.
Still, he said it likely will be less than 2 million gallons, a reduction from the 2 million to 3 million gallons that were released into the river during the October work.
In addition, he said more sewage routinely is washed into the river during a heavy rainstorm. That's because Yonkers has a combined wastewater system, which means its storm drain and sewage systems are combined. In heavy rain, the system is allowed to overflow so that sewage doesn't back up into homes (http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377#). That releases millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the river.
Meyerson said that studies have determined that even that amount of runoff poses little risk.
"There's a minimum measure (the Environmental Protectionhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif (http://www.lohud.com/article/2009903200377#) Agency) has set, and I know the county has done some testing and has shown the impact has not been significant in terms of affecting the ecosystem," he said.
County officials said the work should be done before sunrise on Sunday, and that only direct contact with the water is discouraged for the day. After that, they maintain, the sewage will dissipate into the river's tides and currents