Blog articles by Riverkeeper staff and supporters

What’s worse for water quality than a 500,000-gallon sewage leak?
Results of Mohawk River sampling by SUNY Cobleskill, July 27, 2016.
A broken pipe in the City of Amsterdam spilled 500,000 gallons of raw sewage into the North Chuctanunda Creek, according to published reports. The press reports about the spill prompted concern from river users as far away as Newburgh, some 140 miles away. More
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The principals and lobbyists at Pilgrim Pipeline, LLC are finding that grassroots opposition can be a formidable opponent. A groundswell of opposition in New York and New Jersey; city and village veto power in New York; and a flawed business plan due to a lack […] More
Ashokan Reservoir
The New York State Department of Health will soon determine whether New York City’s water supply may remain unfiltered for the next decade. Roughly 90% of the the City’s water comes from a 1,600 square mile watershed in the Catskill Mountains. From there, roughly one billion gallons per day are piped through a series of gravity-fed aqueducts and reservoirs to serve nine million consumers in the City and Lower Hudson Valley. More
'Married to amazement' on the Mohawk River
I am stunned every time I look out over the Mohawk River in upstate New York, “married to amazement” as the poet Mary Oliver says. The Mohawk River is confluent with the Erie Canal in most places, and the best word for it is “rich”: […] More
Crude south refined north
Capital Region municipalities in the direct path of the proposed Pilgrim oil pipelines now stand in unanimous opposition. In a 5-0 vote (with two abstentions), the Rensselaer Common Council opposed the construction of the proposed pipelines. The City of Rensselaer joins neighboring municipalities Albany, Bethlehem […] More
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Photo: Bridge over Muscoot Reservoir, Creative Commons
Riverkeeper has been taking part in the environmental review of the project known as Somers Crossing to ensure that the developed site will protect water quality by minimizing or avoiding impacts to wetlands and buffers. More
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Saturday, we sampled water quality with dozens of partners on the Wallkill River and Rondout Creek. These two combine to form the largest tributary in the tidal reach of the Hudson River, the gorgeous Rondout Estuary that meets the Hudson at Kingston. We had help […] More
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Carol Knudson of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory takes a sample of Hudson River water for analysis by Cornell University scientist Damian Helbling, who is examining "micropollutants" like pharmaceuticals. (Photo by Leah Rae / Riverkeeper)
Water quality sampling for July is underway, with the Riverkeeper patrol boat ready to complete its monthly sampling of the estuary Saturday, coinciding with the sampling of the Rondout, Wallkill and Roe Jan. The Saw Mill Sparkill, Pocantico, Catskill, Esopus and Saw Kill, as well […] More
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Damian Helbling of Cornell University, aboard the Riverkeeper patrol boat. (Photo by Dan Shapley / Riverkeeper)
Riverkeeper, Cornell University and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation today gathered at the Rondout Creek waterfront in Kingston to discuss the findings of the first broad Hudson River survey of micrpollutants, like pharmaceuticals, personal care products and pesticides. Cornell University scientist Damian […] More
Check out this awesome video about the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance. Riverkeeper and other partners helped to form the Alliance, a new citizen-led group, in 2015. Its formation and work to date has been influenced by Riverkeeper’s ongoing community science water quality monitoring project in […] More

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