The environmental nonprofit christened the vessel — a refurbished 2005 Parker with a new Yamaha engine — at Westerly Marina in Ossining Sunday, naming it after Riverkeeper’s late founder, Bob Boyle. Boyle died in 2017 at the age of 89.
Tracy Brown, the organization’s current president and Hudson riverkeeper, says the new addition is meant to honor Boyle and free up space on their main patrol boat, the R. Ian Fletcher. After years of cramming their mobile lab onto the Fletcher or various rental boats, Riverkeeper finally has a vessel dedicated to lab work.
“The key was really getting the capital to buy the boat. That was the big expense," she notes.
Brown says the “Bob Boyle” cost roughly $150,000, most of it covered by a New York state grant.
In addition to the cargo ships that trek up and down the river between New York City and the Port of Albany, the Hudson attracts recreational boaters, fishermen, and swimmers. The river’s estuary is a source of drinking water for more than 100,000 residents across seven municipalities, including the city and town of Poughkeepsie, the village and town of Rhinebeck, Esopus, Hyde Park, and Lloyd.
So what exactly is the “Bob Boyle” testing for? Well, Science Director Shannon Roback says Riverkeeper monitors things like water temperature and salinity — but mainly, the new boat tests for enterococcus, a class of fecal bacteria used by the EPA to measure sewage contamination.
Captain John Lipscomb takes me aboard the “Bob Boyle” for a quick tour of its lab. Every month since 2008, Riverkeeper has collected and tested water samples from more than 70 sites along the Hudson. Lipscomb says those samples are incubated on deck and divvied up into trays containing several tiny wells. To tell how contaminated a particular site might be, he runs a blacklight over each tray: the wells with fecal bacteria glow bright blue.
“And the number of these wells that fluoresce gives us a count. And so then we use this chart," Lipscomb explains, then pauses to steady the boat slightly. "And we can determine the most probable number of enterococcus per 100 mL.”
Lipscomb says any count above 60 grants the site a “beach advisory,” meaning it’s not safe to swim in. Each site’s counts are mapped out monthly on Riverkeeper’s website, and you might be surprised what you find. In May, Lipscomb says, 10 sites failed testing, and most of the dirtiest sites were not in New York City, but upstate.
"Nyack [in Rockland County] failed: 908. The Gawanus Canal, the infamous Gawanus Canal: 74, just a hair over 60," he points out. "So the infamous Gawanus Canal — the lower intestine of Brooklyn, I call it — was better than Nyack."
To be clear: Lipscomb says enterococcus is not a serious disease-causing pathogen, but it is sometimes accompanied by bacteria that is. Lipscomb says it’s not unusual to see elevated levels in low-volume tributaries compared to giant stretches of river. It’s also common for levels to spike in certain areas after heavy rain, due to runoff — but the latest Nyack sample was taken during a dry-weather run. Lipscomb says he’s not really sure why the Nyack levels are so high right now, but he hopes regular tests like these pressure local officials to investigate further.
“Unlike climate change, where you have to solve the whole thing to solve anything, with water quality on the Hudson, you can fix a source of sewage runoff in one location and improve that location. And then you can focus on another location and improve that location," he adds. "So it’s a manageable challenge.”
Back on shore, friends and family members used the occasion to remember the vessel’s namesake. Bob Boyle was a longtime environmental activist, author, and investigative journalist with Sports Illustrated. He founded Riverkeeper as the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association in 1966, and over the next five decades, took multiple polluters to court. He fought against Con Edison’s plans to build a landscape-altering power station at Storm King Mountain, highlighted PCB pollution and its impact on the river’s striped bass population, and led efforts to stop the development of the Westway Highway in Manhattan.
Lipscomb says Boyle is proof that one person can, in fact, make change in the world. As Boyle’s widow, Kathryn Belous-Boyle, ceremonially doused the back of the boat with champagne, board member Emmanuel Morlet offered up a toast.
“We ask that she possess the wisdom, the strength and resilience of her namesake," he said. "May she serve the needs of the river well, and always provide safe passage for the Riverkeeper’s crews and guests."
You can find a link to Riverkeeper’s water data here.
