Riverkeeper of New York – First Annual Rally On The River

When:
September 21, 2019 @ 1:00 pm – 10:00 pm
2019-09-21T13:00:00-04:00
2019-09-21T22:00:00-04:00
Where:
Factoria at Charles Point
Peekskill NY
Contact:
Riverkeeper - Beth Alee, Events
Phone:800-21-RIVER 

Our mission is to protect the environmental, recreational and commercial integrity of the Hudson River and its tributaries, and safeguard the drinking water of 9 million New Yorkers. –

Riverkeeper

 

Restore & Protect NYC Waterways

Newtown Creek NYC waterways

NYC at a Glance

Over the coming years, New York City’s population growth will present both a challenge and an opportunity. The number of people living alongside the city’s waterfront is expected to continue to grow, so too will the risks those residents will face; from climate change, legacy toxins, and ongoing sewage pollution.

Meanwhile, New Yorkers are increasingly taking to the water, whether for fishing, kayaking, biking, and swimming. As more people play in or near our waterways, public concern and awareness grow, leading to increased community advocacy.

Around the city, Riverkeeper has been working to engage and activate communities along diverse waterfronts. We actively support and strengthen the work of organizations like the Guardians of Flushing Bay, Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Newtown Creek Alliance.

In the 50 years since Riverkeeper’s founding, we’ve been glad to see a sea of change in the way the city approaches clean water. Public access points, triathlons, ferry services, green infrastructure, esplanades, education centers, and restoration work has bridged the pollution-based divide that once separated New Yorkers from their Sixth Borough – the waters around them.

Much work remains, however — and Riverkeeper looks forward to helping steward the next 50 years of change in New York City.

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Contact Us

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Riverkeeper Address

20 Secor Road
Ossining, New York 10562
Directions

Phone:800-21-RIVER

Fax: 914-478-4527
Email: info@riverkeeper.org

To Report a Polluter

Phone: 800-21-RIVER ext 231
Submit a report online

Membership Inquiries

Monica Dietrich
Phone: 914-478-4501 ext. 222
Email: mdietrich@riverkeeper.org

For Journalists

Leah Rae
Staff Writer and Media Specialist
Phone: 914-478-4501 ext. 238
Email: lrae@riverkeeper.org

Request a Speaker

To request a speaker from Riverkeeper, please please contact Jen Benson at jbenson@riverkeeper.org

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Rally-onthe-River-2019-Graphic

September 21, 2019: 1:00PM to 10:00PM
Factoria at Charles Point, 5 John Walsh Blvd, Peekskill, NY 10566 map
Join us for Rally on the River, a brand new event to bring our community together for a common cause: The Hudson River. Run, paddle, revel and recreate on the banks of the River at the Factoria at Charles Point. This daylong festival will feature something for everyone including the Surf and Turf Challenge!

Learn More

Register

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Basics

The Hudson River is not your typical river. In fact, most of the Hudson is actually a tidal estuary where salt water from the ocean combines with freshwater from northern tributaries. This “brackish”, or mixing, water extends from the mouth of the Hudson in NY Harbor to the Federal Dam in Troy, approximately 153 miles.

The salt front of the estuary, where the freshwater runoff meets the saline water, can range from the Tappan Zee Bay near Tarrytown/Nyack in the spring to Newburgh Bay in Poughkeepsie/Newburgh in the late summer or during droughts.

Because the Hudson River is a tidal estuary, meaning it ebbs and flows with the ocean tide, it supports a biologically rich environment, making it an important ecosystem for various species of aquatic life. For many key species, it provides critical habitats and essential spawning and breeding grounds.

To learn more about the unique regions of the Hudson River take A Hudson River Journey.

History

More than nine million people living in New York City, Westchester, Putnam, Orange and Ulster Counties enjoy clean, unfiltered drinking water from the Croton, Catskill and Delaware Watersheds. The 6,000-mile network of pipes, shafts and subterranean aqueducts carries approximately 1.2 billion gallons of pristine water each day from 19 upstate reservoirs.

It is a remarkable engineering achievement and the single largest man-made financial asset in New York State. But, today the city’s reservoir infrastructure is in serious trouble, as is its ability to continue supplying New Yorkers with water.

Many of the nation’s water systems are over 100 years old and in a state of grave neglect. Between 23,000 and 75,000 combined sewage overflows occur each year as a result of failing infrastructure, spilling out 1.26 trillion gallons of untreated sewage annually and incurring $50.6 billion in clean up costs.

Protection

Ashokan Reservoir

Photo: Leah Rae / Riverkeeper

Riverkeeper believes that access to clean, affordable drinking water must be a human right. In the interest of protecting human health and preserving freshwater ecosystems, filtration of public drinking water supplies should be considered as a last resort to be employed only when an unfiltered water supply poses an imminent threat to public health. Sound watershed protection programs not only safeguard human health and aquatic life but also are vastly more economical than filtration.

Public Access

fishermen at the Shandanken output

Riverkeeper generally supports expanded opportunities for low-impact, passive recreation that is compatible with watershed protection goals on water supply lands. It is through use and enjoyment of our shared resources that people become invested in their long-term protection.

CuththeCrap.nyc

Our Story

In 1966, the Hudson River was dying from pollution and neglect. Run-down factories choked it with hazardous waste, poisoning fish, threatening drinking water supplies, and ruining world-class havens for boating and swimming. Sadly, America’s “First River” had become little more than an industrial sewer.

At that time, the Hudson River fishermen decided they had enough. Because their catch reeked from oil spilled daily into the river, they banded together to use a decades-old federal law to the tide from ruin to recovery.

This was the founding of the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association – now Riverkeeper. Today, Riverkeeper continues its fight, seeking out polluters and teaming with citizen scientists and activists to reclaim the Hudson River. And, we also work to ensure that over nine million New Yorkers have clean, safe drinking water. Today, pollution levels are down, and swimming and boating are back.

But the Hudson’s recovery is still fragile, still incomplete. Some fish species have not recovered, and many remain too toxic to eat; pollution levels spike with every rainfall. Mammoth cuts in government spending threaten to reverse a half-century of water quality gains, and we face the challenges of antiquated power plants, climate change, and emerging, harmful pollutants.

Riverkeeper’s vision is of a Hudson teeming with life, with engaged communities boating, fishing and swimming throughout its watershed.

Here’s what Riverkeeper stands for:

  • Guarding your waterways. Riverkeeper holds polluters accountable, making the Hudson safer and cleaner each year. We patrol the river, inform the public, and go to court whenever it’s necessary, to eliminate illegal contamination.
  • Defending clean drinking water. Community water supplies are increasingly threatened by pollution and shortage. Riverkeeper empowers citizens to make their voices heard and assure that their precious drinking water resources stay clean and plentiful. Our locally-based “water democracy” approach gets results.
  • Finding solutions. Riverkeeper fights threats to clean water like destructive power plants, reckless development and decrepit infrastructure. We also specialize in solutions: we improve wildlife habitat, foster sustainable energy, increase investment in water supply/sewer systems, and rally thousands of volunteers to restore their local river fronts.


“Our strategy for success hasn’t changed much since we started out as the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association in 1966: Support the grassroots. Be data driven. Don’t flinch when the going gets tough.” – Paul Gallay, President and Hudson Riverkeeper

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