It is hot out there but if you are looking to cool down you probably don't want to take a dip in the Hudson. See, because of that four-alarm fire at the North River wastewater treatment plant yesterday the DEP is currently discharging gallons and gallons of raw sewage into the river.
There is no new information as to what exactly caused the fire to ignite in the 135th Street plant's engine room, but a spokesman for the DEP tells us that they are working to hard to "assess the damage and see what needs to be done." While they do that, however, the plant will continue to discharge untreated sewage from Upper Manhattan directly into the Hudson. As such the city Health Department is warning swimmers and kayakers to stay out of the river. But don't worry about the beaches... yet. The Department says that "there will be no impact on beaches for at least 48 hours even with continual discharge."
The North River plant opened in 1986 and treats up to 170 million gallons of wastewater a day and is not unfamiliar with dumping sewage in the river. It routinely will discharge untreated sewage during heavy rains (which dilutes it). However the last time we recall a massive dump of sewage like this into the rivers was during the 2003 blackout when 30 million gallons of sewage was flushed directly into the East River.
