Water

Region 4 Combined Sewer Overflows

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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.

Data Source: https://data.ny.gov/Energy-Environment/Combined-Sewer-Overflows-CSOs-Beginning-2013/ephi-ffu6

The Bridges That Go Underwater 🌉

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Nebraska Bridge

Nebraska Bridge

Nebraska Bridge is behind the Tionesta Storm Control Reservoir. Built before the reservoir. When water levels are high like in the spring, the bridge is submerged. As there is little current there, as it’s behind the dam, the bridge just gets wet and covered with branches sometimes. Water level drops, bridge reopens. Happened hundreds of times since dam built in 1940. Bridge built in 1933.

Upper Lisle Bridge

Historic Merrill Creek Road Bridge

There is a similar bridge on Whitney Point Reservoir in New York. Under water part of the year above water in the summer and dry spells. The Whitney Point submerged bridge dates back to the 1880s. With little current, the bridge is unharmed by the slow rise and fall of water around it.

NPR

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Researchers find a massive number of plastic particles in bottled water : NPR

Microscopic pieces of plastic are everywhere. Now, they've been found in bottled water in concentrations 10 to 100 times more than previously estimated.

Researchers from Columbia University and Rutgers University found roughly 240,000 detectable plastic fragments in a typical liter of bottled water. The study was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Waste Water Treatment Plants Of New York State

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Do you live in a place that is hooked up to a sewer? This map shows the location of the outflows from every permitted sewage treatment in New York State., along with a detailed listing of the technologies used at each sewage treatment plant. Light blue are small plants, yellow and green are mid-size while red are very large sewage treatment plants.

Data Source: Current Descriptive Data of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants. https://data.ny.gov/Energy-Environment/Current-Descriptive-Data-of-Municipal-Wastewater-T/g5a2-qa6a

World’s Longest Rivers | U.S. Geological Survey

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Rivers of the World: World’s Longest Rivers | U.S. Geological Survey

Take a look at a map of the United States or of any country in the world. Notice how towns and cities tend to be located next to rivers? This is no coincidence. Rivers provide water for the essential needs of both tiny towns and huge cities. There's a good chance that you live near one of our nation's large rivers. Ever wonder what rivers are the longest? Look at the graphic below to see our short list of long rivers.

(It's not so easy to define how long a river is. If a number of tributaries merge to form a larger river, how would you define where the river actually begins? Here is how we are defining river length:

River lengths or river-length data are affected not only by some of the natural and artificial causes noted in the preceding paragraph, but also by the precision of various techniques of measurement, by the scale of available maps or aerial photographs, and by somewhat arbitrary decisions. For example, the length may be considered to be the distance from the mouth to the most distant headwater source (irrespective of stream name) or from the mouth to the headwaters of the stream commonly identified as the source stream. The names of some rivers, such as the Mississippi River and the Rio Grande, are unchanged from source to mouth. In contrast, the name of the source of the Mobile River—Tickanetley Creek—changes five times before becoming Mobile River 45 miles north of Mobile Bay.