Category: In the News

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan says the Beaver Creek Clean River Project is the most environmentally beneficial project in the city in decades.

Just outside the Thomas O’Brien Academy of Science and Technology sits the beginning of one of the largest public works projects in the city in decades – a $45 million effort to reduce the amount of raw waste that enters the Hudson River during heavy rains.

As global climate strikes take place across the region today, another focus of climate change is an unaccounted-for source of greenhouse gas emissions. Hudson River sewage overflows are the culprit, and a new study suggests that stopping water pollution is an untapped strategy to mitigate climate change.

Communities across the Capital Region are installing various green infrastructure measures to mitigate stormwater runoff, but each person can do their part to help with water pollution, local flooding and combined sewer overflows that plague cities across the country, too.

Intense storms are becoming much more frequent, resulting in heavier rainfall and flooding that wreaks havoc on local infrastructures, budgets and economies.

Large portions of Albany’s (very old) sewer system combine both sewage and stormwater. And when it rains a lot, the system can’t handle all that water. So the sewage ends up in the Hudson River. Yep, gross. It’s a serious environmental and health problem. But the city and its neighbors are currently working on a…
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One of Albany’s busiest thoroughfares is getting a makeover, but there’s more to the project than meets the eye.

When large amounts of rain or snowmelt flow into storm drains, the increased volumes exceed the treatment capacity at the plant. That causes a mix of untreated sewage and water to be diverted around the plant and into the river.

The project still includes a new sewer facility and park space in the old Beaver Creek ravine, but engineers have made a significant design change that officials say will result in both a smaller footprint and smaller impact.

Every year millions of gallons of sewage flow into the Hudson River and it’s especially bad when there’s torrential rainfall. When heavy rains cause sewage overflow a new $8 million project will keep debris from making its way into the Hudson River but it won’t keep out the sewage.

Residents peppered Albany Water Department officials with questions Tuesday evening during the Melrose Neighborhood Association meeting at the Pine Hills library branch, seeking assurance that new development won’t exacerbate sewage overflows homeowners already deal with.