The North Plant is located in Menands and is designed to treat an average daily flow of 35 MGD. That is equal to 87 Olympic Swimming Pools worth of water.
When President Trump called for the federal government to “maximize” water deliveries in California, commanders of the Army Corps of Engineers quickly found two dams where they could carry out that order. And even though the officials knew the water couldn’t be moved out of the Central Vally as Trump wished, they released billions of gallons anyway, according to a newly released government document.
The Feb. 3 memo by Col. Chad Caldwell, the corps’ regional commander, provides the most detailed account to date of how the agency responded to Trump’s order directing federal agencies to increase water deliveries in California. The document recounts how corps officials suddenly decided to dump water from the dams in January, and how they encountered questions and opposition from local water managers and lawmakers, who were concerned that letting out water didn’t make sense and that the high flows posed risks of flooding.
“It was cavalier and an extremely high-risk decision, and wasteful,” said Ann Willis, California regional director of American Rivers, a nonprofit environmental organization.
The dataset represents the locations of combined sewer overflow (CSOs) outfall locations in DEC Region 4, specifically the Albany Pool. It also includes overflow detection capabilities of CSO communities and overflow frequency data within a specified timeframe.
Combined sewer systems (CSS) are sewer systems that are designed to collect storm water runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in the same pipe and bring it to the publicly owned treatment works (POTW) facilities. During rain events, when storm water enters the sewers, the capacity of the sewer system may be exceeded and the excess water will be discharged directly to a waterbody (rivers, streams, estuaries, and coastal waters). http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/48595.html
The cities of Albany, Troy, Cohoes, Rensselaer, Watervliet, and the Village of Green Island make up the partner communities in the Albany Pool Communities. Among the six communities there are nearly 100 CSO discharge points. The Albany and Rensselaer County Sewer Districts are connected to the CSO program through their State Pollution Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permits, and are cooperating with the Pool communities in implementation of the Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) for the abatement of CSOs. Read more about this program at http://www.cdrpc.org/CSO.html.
The most important and immediate impact would be a significant increase in dental cavities, especially among children.
“Water fluoridation is often referred to as a ‘public health miracle’ because it helps so many across all socioeconomic groups avoid the devastating effects of dental disease,” Zavras said. “Groups that consume high levels of carbohydrates will bear the burden of such increase disproportionately.”
However, Malin said there is evidence suggesting that water fluoridation is no longer essential for preventing tooth decay, with fluoride toothpaste being widely accessible.6 “It seems that the demonstrated benefit has declined over the years,” Malin added. “There’s more evidence in support of the topical application.”
Fluoride recommendations have been altered before. The HHS initially set the optimal range of water fluoridation at 0.7 to 1.2 mg/L. In 2015, the agency updated its recommendation to the current optimal concentration of 0.7 mg/L due to the increasing amounts of fluoride in food that is processed with fluoridated water.18 “We need to remember that community drinking water isn’t the only source of fluoride exposure,” Malin added.
Whether Kennedy is in charge of American health initiatives or not, the EPA will have to address the health risks of water fluoridation per the federal court ruling.
“I think it makes sense to further regulate the chemical to mitigate the risk,” Malin said. “Whether that means reducing the concentration or eliminating it from the water supply altogether remains to be determined.”
