Sewage Pollution
On Thursday, August 9, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the landmark Sewage Pollution Right to Know Act. Wastewater treatment plants will be required to disclose to the public within four hours of releasing raw or partially treated sewage into state waterways, including the Hudson River. This disclosure will help you avoid contact with bacteria in water that, nationwide, causes as many as 3.5 million illnesses each year.
While the Hudson is free from harmful bacteria at many times and locations, of more than 2,000 Hudson River estuary samples from 2006 to 2011, 24% failed federal safe swimming guidelines because of fecal contamination—three times that of U.S. public beaches nationwide.
Although water quality throughout the Hudson River Estuary has improved, many waterfronts are still unsafe for recreation after as little as one-twentieth of an inch of rain. In New York Harbor alone, more than 27 billion gallons of raw sewage and polluted storm water is discharged each year. The main culprit is outmoded sewer systems, which combines sewage with runoff from storm drains.