NY/NJ Baykeeper: Update on Hudson River Sewage Spill


Photo Credit: Michael Schwartz

On Friday, NYCDEP was able to bring both engines at the plant back online and as a result all untreated discharges into the Hudson River stopped Friday night as of approximately 9:30 pm. Saturday morning, at approximately 5:00 am, an electricity feeder that supplies power to the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant went offline because of an electrical utility manhole fire. Because of this, the plant temporarily was able to treat roughly 104 million gallons a day of wastewater with primary treatment and chlorine disinfection; and untreated wastewater at a rate of roughly 15-25 million gallons a day was for several hours being discharged into the Hudson River. The pump was brought back online around 2:00 pm Saturday afternoon. Because of that, the rate of discharges continued to decline and stopped at approximately 3:30 pm on Saturday. Since then, intermittent issues with the plant's operations related to the fire continue to be addressed as they arise. This has not resulted in any discharges since Saturday afternoon.  Please keep in mind that treatment at the plant is still not at full capacity for secondary treatment.
 
For more information on the status of the discharge please visit the NYCDEP's website.  All current health advisories remain unchanged.  For the latest on the water quality conditions visit the following link.
 
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has conducted its own sampling of Hudson River, NY/NJ Harbor, Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay.  The sampling results for Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays remain below action levels for fecal coliform and enterococcus, with the exception of one point.  Sampling continues and the advisories for New Jersey remain unchanged.
 
This event highlights the ongoing challenge our older municipalities surrounding the NY/NJ Harbor continually face with the current system of a combined sewer outfalls (CSOs).  Even a small amount of rain in our area can lead to overflow conditions and the release of raw sewage.  We encourage you to contact your elected officials and media to demand a comprehensive long-term solution to combined sewers and their impact to our local waterways.
 
For more information see today's NY Times article: 
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Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 7/25/2011 5:00 PM
Categories: Breaking News
Tags: hudson river sewage spill raritan bay wastewater nycdep
 

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