NYCkayaker The Yonkers spill

Mon May 7 23:11:38 EDT 2007

Richard, 

Excellent post.....

I have decided that I will stay off the Hudson at least south of the Tappan
Zee for two weeks. I do not trust the officials, and want to make sure that
the sewage is dispersed, and completely broken down and biodegraded before I
will venture out into the River I love....

I will reassess in two weeks. In the meantime, I plan on going up to the
Harriman Lakes (permit required), Long Island Sound, Split Rock and
Monksville Reservoirs and other areas before I put my kayak in the Hudson.
If I feel the need for Hudson River water I will drive up to Cold Spring or
Plum Point Beach and put in there....

In the meantime, I will go biking and hiking as well as kayaking in the
above mentioned places. Yeah, I love paddling along the Palisades cliffs,
but hate the ideas of infectious diseases. I, myself, am not willing to jump
in. I realize that when I was a kid, a lot more raw sewage was legally
dumped in to the Hudson on a daily basis than this recent Yonkers¹ spill.
And the only thing I could catch when I went fishing were those ferocious
eels. Since the building of sewage treatment plants and other clean-up
efforts, the Hudson has come back to life with more than 200 species of fish
thriving in its waters.

I prefer to err on the side of caution. -- David Gottlieb

On 5/7/07 11:06 AM, "Richard Clifford" <RichardClifford at earthlink.net>
wrote:

> NYCKayaker:
>     Two things for any of you to consider before going out on the River.
> 
>     First, the Westchester County Health Department issued its advisory on
> Friday, May 4. (below) We also understand that the repairs were made sometime
> on Sunday when the flow was stopped. To me, the spill rate appears to be both
> an estimate and significant flow into the River. The weather also is trending
> warmer. All of this may lead to exposure significant amount of bacteria by any
> boaters. 
> 
>     Second, there is a story in the Journal News today that places the volume
> of the spill at 7.5 million gallons. Perhaps a scientist can tell the
> community about the dispersal, range and dissipation of the sewage. I have no
> idea if it is in Croton or how far upstream it could have traveled on the
> current. 
> 
>     Rob Morrow who is quoted in today's Journal News article makes a good
> point about being advised of any spills. But, I posted a advisory on
> NYCKayaker at 11 A.M. on Saturday morning concerning the spill. The bigger
> issue of advance warning for this area is not so much the sewage spill, but
> some heads up about the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. As for his inability
> to understand or appreciate at the time that he was slogging through raw
> sewage and excrement, but thought that it was "mud" is something that I hope
> never to do. Maybe its a good time to come over to the Long Island Sound for
> some paddling. 
> 
>     So, why not develop another plan for recreational activities and wait a
> few days before getting onto the River? And, no, what doesn't kill you will
> not make you stronger. It will make you sick, as we all have been advised.
> 
>     You are well advised to make your choices wisely. - Richard Clifford
>  
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 4, 2007
> ADVISORY FOR BOATERS, MARINAS & RECREATIONAL WATER USERS
> The Westchester County Department of Health is issuing an alert to boaters and
> marinas on the Hudson
> River that a sewage break involving a major sewage line at the Greystone Train
> Station in Yonkers has resulted
> in the discharge of untreated sewage into the river. Efforts are underway at
> this time to repair the broken line
> and expectations are that the discharge will be stopped by early tomorrow
> morning.
> As a precaution, boaters and people who use the water for recreational
> purposes should avoid doing so
> this weekend. An advisory is being issued to marinas located on the Hudson
> River as well as County and local
> police departments.
> 
> It is estimated that the flow rate is approximately four million gallons per
> day and that this break may
> result in the release of two to three million gallons of sewage.
> -30-
> 
> Sewage spill stopped, but people still advised to avoid Hudson
>  By DIANA COSTELLO AND HANNAN ADELY
> THE JOURNAL NEWS
> 
> (Original publication: May 7, 2007)
> YONKERS -"I feel so unclean."
> 
> Those words were uttered by Yonkers resident Bob Morrow, who slogged through
> sewage-infested waters on the Hudson River Saturday morning in his kayak,
> having not heard the news that a sewer line had ruptured the day before.
> 
> Morrow and a friend paddled from downtown Yonkers to the Hastings border and
> back, as the brown, mucky water splashed on them. The water was thicker and
> smellier than usual, Morrow said, but he thought it was caused by runoff from
> recent flooding.
> 
> "We had no idea," he said yesterday. "I thought it was mud. How was I to know
> it was excrement?"
> 
> The sewage leak has been stopped, but kayakers and other area residents should
> continue to avoid any portion of the Hudson River that touches Westchester
> County at least through today, according to county officials. The sewer
> pipeline ruptured on Friday afternoon, spilling around 7.5 million gallons of
> raw sewage near the riverbank.
> 
> "We'll re-evaluate tomorrow when we know a little more of the data,"
> Westchester County Health Department spokeswoman Mary Landrigan said
> yesterday.
> 
> The sewage leaked out of the pipeline slightly northeast of the Greystone
> Metro-North Railroad station in Yonkers.
> 
> Construction crews spent the weekend building a 200-foot steel pipeline to
> bypass the 4-foot sewer main. They completed the project about 10 a.m.
> yesterday.
> 
> The nearby wetlands appear to have soaked up most of the sewage, although
> "there's no way to compute" how much ultimately reached the river, according
> to Tom Lauro, acting commissioner of the county's Department of Environmental
> Facilities.
> 
> Workers yesterday afternoon were busy pumping water out of the marsh and into
> the sewer system in an effort to capture any of the waste that polluted the
> area.
> 
> "No sewage is going across the marsh into the Hudson," Lauro said. "That's all
> been stopped."
> 
> Although ruptures happen occasionally, the county has never suffered a leak of
> such magnitude, Lauro said.
> 
> County officials believe that April's record rainfall may have contributed to
> the break, because a landslide on a steep part of the riverbank moved enough
> trees and dirt that the pipe shifted and broke.
> 
> The state Department of Environmental Conservation is monitoring the leak and
> repair efforts, but did not have any updates as of yesterday afternoon.
> 
> The Hudson River Fishermen's Association canceled its 22nd Annual Hooked on
> Hudson fishing contest that was supposed to be held yesterday in Fort Lee,
> N.J., near the George Washington Bridge because of the sewage spill. The club
> did not want to put any children at risk in case of bacterial contamination,
> said association president Carl Bruger.
> 
> In the wake of the rupture, Morrow is considering asking the county to send
> alerts related to the Hudson River to the Yonkers Paddling and Rowing Club, so
> kayakers like himself can avoid a similar mess in the future.
> 
> "The upsetting thing is we really had no process to know there was a problem,"
> he said.
> 
> 
> Richard C. Clifford, Esq.
> Attorney at Law
> 1890 Palmer Avenue, Suite 302
> Larchmont, NY 10538
> 
> Tel: (914) 834-0100 -or- 0757
> Cell: (917) 854-5824
> Fax: (914) 834-0888
> 
> RichardClifford at earthlink.net
> RichardClifford at NYSBar.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dan Starer wrote:
>>     
>>  
>> I was thinking of paddling tomorrow after work but the sewage situation is
>> still unclear.  I just talked to an engineer at the Westchester Dept. of
>> Health.  The spill was stopped at about 10 am Sunday and they are advising
>> not to paddle today.  But they won't say if tomorrow is OK.  If anyone has
>> opinions or further info. please post.
>>  
>>  
>>  
>> Dan
>>  
> 
> 
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