Released in December of 2024, the following are some of the key findings detailed in our first report, “The Threat of Landfill Leachate to Drinking Water in Hudson/Mohawk Rivers“: 

• Because of the Leachate Loophole, about 89 million gallons of landfill leachate were discharged into the Mohawk River and Hudson River Estuary each year from 2019-2023. That volume is enough to fill about 12,400 average size tanker trucks.
• This liquid waste was brought to WWTPs from 24 landfills across New York and out of state.
• Within the project area, landfill leachate was discharged from six wastewater treatment plants in the Mohawk River and eight in the Hudson River. Fourteen drinking water intakes are located in this project area.
• The practice of disposing landfill leachate at WWTPs began more than 40 years ago, on the assumption that polluting substances break down in the environment over time. Many of these petroleum-based, synthetic chemicals persist in the environment with new ones being made almost everyday. Regulations have not kept pace.
• Research has found that many emerging contaminants can affect living beings in barely detectable concentrations. Dilution does not eliminate their harmful effects.
• Testing of landfill leachate by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has documented levels of PFAS “forever chemicals” as high as 5,440.35 ppt at the Dunn Landfill, which delivers leachate to an Albany County wastewater treatment plant that discharges into the Hudson River.
• Regulators are aware of unsafe chemicals in leachate, but they aren’t applying that knowledge to stop landfill pollution from flowing through WWTPs into drinking water supplies. Laws and regulations meant to protect the environment from leachate pollution are falling short.
• This lack of regulation – that the “Leachate Loophole” exposes – is increasing water pollution and shifting the cost of remediation to drinking water suppliers in the project area.
• The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is considering rules that would require landfills to treat leachate onsite before it is transported offsite and released into the environment. A formal rulemaking process for onsite treatment and disposal of landfill leachate would be a critical opportunity to establish better practices.