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December 17, 2024

New Report Spotlights a Chronic Source of Pollution in Mohawk and Hudson Rivers: Landfill leachate

Drinking water for 19 communities along the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers are at risk from discharges of contaminated liquid waste.

Call on the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to Adopt New Regulations.

Based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, a major new report “The Threat of Landfill Leachate to Drinking Water in the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers” reveals regulatory gaps in the way the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)  is addressing the problem.  Called the “Leachate Loophole” the failure to regulate this liquid waste allows the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers – including areas used as drinking water supplies – to be routinely polluted by landfill leachate. 

Leachate is the liquid that is created when rain water and melting snow percolates through landfills. It often contains toxic chemicals including PFAS “forever chemicals.”  Modern landfills must take extensive measures to contain leachate in order to protect neighboring groundwater and streams. Yet, once this leachate is contained and collected at landfills, it is common practice for it to be trucked or sent by pipe offsite to municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for disposal. Using available data to map the discharges in relation to drinking water supplies, the group set out to inform communities about the potential risks from this common method of disposing of this waste, and assist in achieving solutions. 

The Leachate Loophole involves multiple environmental laws, including those that cover solid waste, surface water, and drinking water. Because of the loophole, 89 million gallons of landfill leachate were discharged into the Mohawk River and Hudson River each year from 2019-2023. That volume is enough to fill about 12,400 average size tanker trucks.  This liquid waste is brought to municipal wastewater treatment plants in the project area from 24 landfills across New York, and in Massachusetts. 

The leachate originates at public and private landfills and the wastewater treatment plants are owned by local governments.

The report focuses on sections of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers that are used as drinking water supplies. These waters serve nineteen municipalities and more than 368,000 people that are partially or completely served by these sources of drinking water, including groups that disproportionately experience environmental harms. In these municipalities, people of color make up a larger share of the population (30%) compared to the rest of the project area (21%). They include: Towns of Ballston, Charlton, Colonie, East Fishkill, Esopus, Glenville, Hyde Park, Lloyd, Niskayuna, Poughkeepsie, Rotterdam and Waterford; Villages of Colonie, Green Island, Rhinebeck and Scotia; and the Cities of Cohoes, Poughkeepsie and Schenectady. 

“The goal of this report is to expose and address the regulatory gaps that allow landfill leachate to be sent to municipal wastewater treatment plants, which are not monitoring or equipped to remove the toxic chemicals it contains,” said Jen Epstein, GIS Analyst and Lead Writer of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers Leachate Collaborative. “This regulatory failure leaves rivers and drinking water sources vulnerable to leachate pollution. By highlighting the leachate loophole and its consequences, the report aims to empower communities—particularly those dependent on rivers for drinking water—to advocate for stronger protections and meaningful solutions.”

WWTPs are not required to monitor or are equipped to remove the harmful substances that are present in leachate, even where they discharge into drinking water sources. The burden to remove harmful chemicals is placed on the drinking water treatment plants that draw from these waters, whose operators may not be aware that neighboring WWTPs are accepting leachate.

Read an Executive Summary of the report

“Toxic landfill leachate is but one of many types of wastewater that are blended with partially treated sewage and discharged into the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers. This practice is being done legally – behind the scenes, and unknown to the public,” said Captain John Lipscomb, Technical Advisor to the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers Leachate Collaborative. “We are glad to learn that the NYSDEC has signaled its intention to revisit the rules governing this practice. Putrid, toxic leachate should NEVER be dumped into ANY river, especially not into those that serve as sources of drinking water for communities. This indefensible practice must be brought to an immediate end.”

Major findings detailed in the report:

• Within the project area, landfill leachate is discharged from six wastewater treatment plants along the Mohawk River (Gloversville-Johnstown, Mohawk View (Town of Colonie), City of Amsterdam, Village of Canajoharie, Town of Rotterdam Sewer District #2 and City of Schenectady) and eight into the Hudson River (Albany County North, City of Kingston, City of Beacon, Village of Catskill, City of Poughkeepsie, City of Hudson, Glasco (Town of Saugerties) and Rensselaer County Sewer District #1). Fourteen drinking water intake pipes are located in this project area (City of Cohoes, Latham Water District, Town of Glenville, Niskayuna Consolidated Water District, Town of Rotterdam (Main Street), Town of Rotterdam (Rice Road), City of Schenectady, Village of Scotia, Village of Green Island, Dutchess County Water and Wastewater Authority (DCWWA), Highland Water District, Port Ewen Water District, City of Poughkeepsie, Village of Rhinebeck).
• The practice of disposing landfill leachate at wastewater treatment plants began more than 40 years ago, on the assumption that polluting substances break down in the environment rapidly, which is not true of various toxic chemicals like PFAS.  Many of these chemicals  persist in the environment. Regulations have not kept pace.
• Research has found that many of these contaminants can affect public health in very small concentrations. Dilution does not eliminate the 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 parts per trillion at the controversial Dunn Construction and Demolition Debris Landfill in Rensselaer, NY which trucks leachate to the Albany County wastewater treatment plant located in Menands, NY that discharges into the Hudson River.
• DEC is aware of unsafe chemicals in leachate, but they have not acted to stop landfill pollution from flowing through WWTPs into drinking water supplies. State regulations meant to protect the environment from leachate pollution are falling short.
• This lack of regulation – which the report calls the Leachate Loophole – exposes increasing water pollution and shifts the cost of remediation to drinking water suppliers in the study area.

“This extremely well-researched report highlights an endemic, statewide problem with our throw away culture.  The State must take action to make sure that leachate is not discharged into drinking water sources. Seneca Meadows, the state’s largest landfill, operates in the Finger Lakes in upstate New York – but it trucks nearly 60 million gallons of toxic leachate across New York annually, where some of it makes its way to the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers and beyond,” said Yvonne Taylor, Vice President and Co-Founder of Seneca Lake Guardian. “One solution is to mandate that leachate is treated on site at the landfills, but a more permanent solution is to adopt a zero waste, circular economy that uses landfills and incineration as a last resort. To protect New York’s waterways, the State must lead New York to a more sustainable future, and start by closing Seneca Meadows landfill when its permit expires in 2025.” 

In June of 2023, DEC announced it was considering new regulations that would require landfills to treat leachate onsite before it is transported to wastewater treatment plants and released into the environment. The goal of the report is to inform communities about this pollution source and assist them in advocating for solutions.

The report coincides with the 50th anniversary of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 16, 1974. In New York, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has delegated authority to implement the law to the state DEC.

“As we enter the next 50 years of the Safe Drinking Water Act, it’s time to end the outdated and harmful practices that damage our precious water supplies.” said Rebecca Martin, Project Manager of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers Leachate Collaborative. “To protect our rivers and our drinking water, the DEC needs to move quickly to adopt new regulations for the proper treatment of leachate onsite at landfills. The DEC promised new rules in their 2024 regulatory agenda, but as the year winds down, nothing has been released to the public yet.” 

“The good news is, DEC has the regulatory authority to compel landfills to treat leachate onsite,” said Hannah Dauray, Student Intern for the Pace Law Environmental Litigation Clinic. “Under the Environmental Conservation Law and New York’s Green Amendment, agencies have the power and responsibility to their citizens to ensure our waters are clean and healthful. By putting a spotlight on the leachate loophole and insisting that state officials take action, New Yorker’s can signal that they will not settle for the status quo.” 

The Hudson and Mohawk River Collaborative is led by Rebecca Martin and Jen Epstein, who previously worked at the environmental group Hudson Riverkeeper. With technical support from former Riverkeeper Captain John Lipscomb and legal research by Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, the team used public data, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, to show how current water regulations are failing to protect rivers and drinking water sources from leachate pollution.

Two webinars are open to members of the public who are interested in learning more.