When I sailed the Hudson in 1980, even the foam in your wake was brown. Now the water in New York Harbor has improved to the point that it is not unusual to see people swimming off boats anchored there. Water quality on the Hudson River has improved enourmously in the past two decades, mostly as a result of implementation of the Federal Clean Water Act of 1972, which resulted in the upgrade of New York City's sewage treatment plants to full secondary treatment (mostly). On the Hudson, the opening of the North River Sewage Treatment plant meant that hundreds of miliions of gallons of sewage were being treated before being dumped in the Hudson. Believe it or not, the Hudson off of Manhattan now meets water quality standards for swimming most of the time. But there is still a lot of work to be done. Combined sewer overflows dump raw sewage into the Hudson from New York's streets after every significant rainfall (one reason to avoid contact recreation right after a thundershower!) Not all of New York's plants have been fully upgraded, and the sewage plants still routinely violate their permit requirements. In addition to Clearwater (which I am on the board of), several other environmental groups are pressing the fight to finish cleaning up NYC's waters, including Riverkeeper, Inc. (formerly Hudson River Fishermen's Association), Long Island Soundkeeper, and the New York New Jersey Baykeeper program of the American Littoral Society. These groups deserve a lot of credit for keeping the pressure on government and industry to clean up their acts. (Disclosure: I co-direct the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, which represents these organizations in environmental litigation). --Karl Coplan -----Original Message----- From: Jason Taylor [mailto:jason_at_rcschade.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2000 2:08 PM To: kcoplan_at_law.pace.edu Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] How Dirty Is It? --(2/29/00 9:36 PM) Michael Daly wrote: >They must have really cleaned up the Hudson compared to when I sailed >up it in 1977 (Norfolk to Montreal returning a boat whose owner >wintered on it in the Bahamas). Back then I kept my mouth clamped >shut against the spray and felt like I was sailing through a sewer. The >smell was unbelievable. When we tied up at the 79th St boat basin, there >was a dead pig floating by one of the docks. Some folks we knew there >told their kids that if they touched the dock or piers, they had to wash >their >hands. The ultimate downside was that they were renovating the washrooms >of the boat basin and we couldn't shower. I ended up taking a bath in a sink >in a restaurant on Broadway. Conditions improved considerably once we >sailed about a half day further up the Hudson. > >When I first read about you folks kayaking there, I cringed. I'm glad for >you >that things are better! You'd be amazed. About 4 years ago I was doing some volunteer work for the Sloop Clearwater. One of the boat's programs involves taking groups of schoolkids out into NY Harbor, throwing a net over the side for a few minutes of trawling and putting the catch into aquariums for the kids to look at. Sailing from the Statue of Liberty toward Manhattan, we came up with lots of fish, including bass, seahorses (!) and robin fish. When I was a child however, we lived near the 79th St. Boat Basin (from 1969-77), so I remember the days of the floating dead pigs! PS. The Norfolk to Montreal trip must have been great--especially since you were being paid to sail someone else's boat! *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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