(Compiled from Times Union blog entries)
• “E COLI” FOUND AT EAST GREENBUSH TOWN PARK! Confirmed less than an hour ago by the Rensselaer Co. Health Dept. in a telephonic interview. Ongoing problem for 2-3 years (of sporadic nature, theorized that it’s related to run-off). According to Rensselaer Co. the town engineer was tasked with identifying the source of the contamination. No action to date, so the County refused to issue a beach permit this year. Yet nothing from the town to its citizens warning them of this health risk. According to a source at the town DPW both the Supervisor and the head of DPW were aware of the problem, yet the taxpayers are not??? Are you kidding me? People DIE from e-coli! I just came from the beach and took pictures, there are no warning signs other than a cryptic slap-on variety about a health risk which is posted right over the “No swimming when lifeguard not on duty” sign. Shouldn’t there be a sign that says “Swimming here can sicken or KILL you!” Who’s doing something about this? What about all the people that had graduation parties there this year? Any of them go swimming? What about teenagers at night swimming there? The “rumor” is a rumor no longer. Please spread the word to everyone you know to contact the Town Supervisor and demand a mitigation and an explanation!
Comment by Dwight Jenkins — August 17th, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
• Despite the Supervisor’s new web site message about the Town park, the problem was detected 2-3 years ago and there have been a number of beach closures since that time. The County Health Department told the town to identify the source of the problem but the town never did, so the county did not issue a beach permit in 2009. Despite the supervisor’s assurances that the beach was properly placarded, well, it MIGHT be now but it certainly wasn’t as of Monday 8/17/09. I have pictures and it basically just said no swimming when lifeguard not on duty. When I pointed out the required state law placard language the town did put up a sign that said the beach was closed by order of the county health department. Close, but not right yet, as the law demands another clause be included warning against concealment, mutilation, alteration, or removal of the sign without permission of the county, such actions being violations of Public Health Law. Despite the supervisor’s assurances that there was no risk to the citizens, the water condition as it exists constitutes a Public Health Hazard under Section6-2.15 -Water Quality Monitoring. As for e-coli, I stand by what the County Health officer told me on the phone. I told him I’d heard first-hand that there was feces in the water (not even thinking e-coli). He is the one who then stated that there was e-coli and fecal coliform above acceptable levels with no town mitigation action. I have the notes I wrote as he was speaking. Sorry, but it is what it is, and it’s only that way because I raised a stink, not because the town did the right thing on its own. Lots of people swam there this summer not realizing it may have been better to drink from their toilets… Supervisor, we want to see the correspondences between the Town and the County over the last 3 years on this matter, and we want to see each of the offending test results for ourselves, thank you very much. Let’s put them on the downloads page of the web site.
Comment by Dwight Jenkins — August 21st, 2009 @ 5:33 am
• Visiting the Town Park yesterday I saw orange plastic snow fence strung all along the beachfront at the waterline, with a “No Swimming” sign pounded into the polluted beach sand for good measure. That’s a lot of precaution for a condition that the Supervisor says placed no citizens at risk at any time! Unfortunately a father and his young son (I am presuming, based on their interactions) were fishing at the far end of the snow fence, as were two other groups further upstream. Do they know WHY the County Health Department closed the beach? Did they EAT their catch? What exactly DID they ingest? And by the way, Section 6-2.15 of the law (Water Quality Monitoring) states in paragraph 3) When the above described levels are exceeded (which they were, for either fecal coliform and/or E.coli) the permit-issuing official (Rensselaer County Health Dept., in this case) shall cause an investigation to be made to determine the source or sources of pollution… Did the County do its job? It seems not. Did the Town do its job? It seems not. Did the citizens of East Greenbush, including me, do their jobs? It seems not. We have been lazy in our oversight, too busy to get involved, too afraid to ask questions. That is about to change, it seems.
Comment by Dwight Jenkins — August 23rd, 2009 @ 8:09 am
• Got a call at work Friday from NYS Health Department Regional Field Coordinator Mara Holcomb about the Town Park situation. Very pleasant lady, she, and we had a nice chat. Surprisingly, she said there were a couple of things in the recent Times Union story that were not accurate, something about how the newspapers often get the story wrong. I told her I thought the Times-Union probably reported the story accurately based on whatever the county and/or the town told them. I didn’t press her for details, but based on the tenor of the conversation I will predict two things to come out of the FOIL request I made for lab results and for County/Town correspondences 2007-present. (No, I’m not going to air them here, but I will tell the truth about whether I’m right or not once the documents are in. Unlike the political entities involved I have nothing to lose by telling the truth.)
Two different times she mentioned that samples taken in the vicinity of a duck that had just pooped would test positive for E.-coli. She also said that E.coli could be found in almost any body of water you could mention, including Grafton Lakes State Park. She went on to state that if you weren’t testing for E.coli you wouldn’t have any lab results for it. So…can you guess what MIGHT come up in these documents? I will let you know as soon as I know.
Comment by Dwight Jenkins — August 30th, 2009 @ 6:12 pm
• I got my FOIL’ed Rensselaer County Health Dept. records on Friday and, as expected, they contradict the Town’s position and the Times Union story. There WAS E. coli at the Town Park, confirmed by Bender Lab in July – August 2008, each of the 4 times the lake was tested. The 7/10/08 test results were almost 5 times the acceptable limits! Additionally, Fecal Coliform was detected in quantities often well above acceptable standards. Someone lied. It’s just that simple, someone lied. And for what? All they had to do was acknowledge the problem, like many other communities across the country, post the proper signs warning the public, like many other communities across the country, update the web site, like many other communities across the country. But no, this is East Greenbush, so we lie, dissemble and withhold. I think most galling of all were the e-mails between NYS and Rensselaer County Health officials, with the subject line “East Greenbush Poop Pond.” From the County to the State on 7/3/09: “Trouble in E.G. again. I sampled the pond before I would issue a permit and one week after I sent them a permit they had a fecal of over 1,600. One week later: 200 fecal. Of course they have remained closed. This is the third straight year of this crap (no pun intended). I think I would like to permanently revoke their permit. Please advise.” This was after a 6/20/08 recommendation that the Town must “investigate and determine the cause, then eliminate the source of pollution since this has been an ongoing problem and similar historical data can be accessed in the file.” There are no County Health records that suggest anything more than a cursory investigation of the source.
Here’s what I advise: YOU have to be the ones to put pressure on this administration! Call them, write them, e-mail them, hound them! They willingly, knowingly allowed your children to be exposed to dangerous bacteria. Elevated E.coli and Fecal Coliforms get people sick! All you have to do is Google it, like I did, and you’ll find plenty of evidence from coast to coast. Just this past June a whole group of triathletes fell ill in Oklahoma after the swimming portion of their competition.I have copies of all documentation should there be any question as to the veracity of this blog post.
Comment by Dwight Jenkins — September 22nd, 2009 @ 1:46 pm
• Additional documentation about E. coli at the Town Park, obtained today through a Freedom of Information request:
On March 11, 2009 the Rensselaer County Health Department Environmental Health Director Richard Elder sent EG Supervisor Richard McCabe a letter re: EAST GREENBUSH TOWN BEACH. “Dear Mr. McCabe: In the past three years the East Greenbush Town Beach has been closed by this Department several times because the bacteria counts in the lake exceeded acceptable levels. Last summer, after a lengthy investigation, we determined that the source of the bacteria (is) likely run-off. Therefore, before a permit can be issued to operate the Town beach in 2009, the Town of East Greenbush must conduct an evaluation to determine the source of the run-off. Once the source has been determined, you will be required to submit plans for corrective actions… Sincerely, Richard J. Elder, Environmental Health Director.”
This is the very same Rich Elder quoted in the Times Union as denying that E. coli turned up in the water at the Town Beach. On 6/17/09 the Town took 11 samples of water at the beach and at various places along the stream that feeds the beach. The samples were taken between 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM. Escherichia coli (E. coli, for short) turned up in levels exceeding safe limits at the beach, 1/8 mile upstream, at the Broken Bridge (where the stream runs under Luther Rd, just below the new housing development up on the hill), at County Rte 55 where it meets Bink Farm Rd (where levels were highest: 690 per 100 ml) before dropping off to “safe” levels at the Parker Rd and Jope’s/Moore Rd locations. Total Coliform counts exceeded safe levels at the beach, 1/8 mile upstream, the Broken Bridge, County Rte 55 where it meets Bink Farm Rd, at Parker Rd and again at Jope’s/Moore Rd. The comments portion of the results pages typically read exactly as follows: “Sample is POSITIVE for Total Coliform. This result indicates that the water WAS NOT of a SATISFACTORY sanitary quality when the sample was collected. Sample was POSITIVE for Escherichia coli.” All samples were processed by JH Consulting Group, Inc., Newtonville NY.
SO…How could Supervisor McCabe POSSIBLY reassure the Town residents both on his EG web site and in the 8/27/09 edition of THE ADVERTISER that the town “…has at no time put any of our residents at risk. A bacterial problem was detected in late spring in the pond. [Which spring: 2006, 2007, 2008 or 2009??? It was a problem all along!] The proper signage was posted. [No, it wasn't, and I have proof.] I would like to once again assure all of the Town residents, all proper steps have and will be taken. [No, they weren't. We're STILL waiting for a message from the Supervisor's office which acknowledges E. coli in the Town Beach's swimming water.] It was just 2 weeks prior to this, also in THE ADVERTISER, that the Supervisor stated “Despite the weather, the Town Parks have been booked all season and into the fall.” At that very point in time there was absolutely nothing at the beach to warn party-going swimmers (and there were swimmers, as witnessed by my own daughter at one such party) that the water was unsafe to swim in: no fence of any kind and one sign which read “For your safety NO swimming allowed,” placed directly over another sign which reads “Swimming Only When Lifeguard on Duty. Swimming at Any Other Time is Prohibited.” When I showed these sign photos to a local expert in the field of “warnings” his reaction was as follows: “Until the problem is solved, they should certainly put up appropriate signage warning residents of the problem. Whatever the final signage says, it should clearly state the hazard, the likely consequences and their severity, and what people need to do to protect their safety/health…it [the existing sign on 8/13/09] was clearly inadequate, poses a public health risk, and places the Town of East Greenbush at significant legal risk should someone becomes sick as a result of the E-Coli…There is nothing to prevent the Town from publishing the info in the paper, announcing it on local radio/TV, putting fliers out at select places a majority of the public would frequent (e.g.,Hannaford, Price Chopper, the Town Park, etc.) as a broader warning “system.”
It should also be noted that I had requested copies of all Town correspondence with the County Health Department about this matter. I got nothing. Either the Town staff couldn’t find anything in their records (there were plenty of correspondences and e-mails obtained from the County) or they refused to give me what they had! Pick your poison, they’re both bad options!I’ll say it again: we deserve better! What’s the big secret? A lot of communities have to deal with polluted swimming water. But hey, there’s NO EXCUSE for not warning your friends, relatives, and neighbors. None.
Comment by Dwight Jenkins — September 29th, 2009 @ 5:09 pm
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