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Sewage Discharges into Hudson River in Westchester

The Westchester County Department of Health is advising people who use the Hudson River waters for recreational purposes, namely swimmers, boaters, kayakers and windsurfers to avoid direct contact with the water until further notice along the Westchester shoreline. This advisory is due to flooding-related shutdowns at one waste water treatment plant and two waste water pumping stations along the river that have resulted in raw and partially treated sewage entering the Hudson River.

As a precaution, the Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities shut down the Crotonville Pump Station at 10:05 a.m. Tuesday due to tidal flooding. As a result, untreated sewage is entering the Hudson River via the Croton River on the Croton-Ossining border until further notice.

At 10:50 p.m. Monday night, the North Yonkers pump station became flooded and its pumps went out of service, allowing screened raw sewage to be released to the Hudson River until further notice.

Earlier, at 8:45 p.m., the Department of Environmental Facilities asked Consolidated Edison to cut power to the Yonkers Wastewater Treatment Plant due to flooding in the plant, both to protect equipment and for the safety of employees. As a result, partially treated sewage has been released into the river since then.

Similar discharges and warnings have been made for several towns in Connecticut as well.

All relevant authorities have been notified. Further notifications will be made when the plants return to service.