Partially treated sewage discharged into the West Branch at Deposit

Upper Delaware River bacteria levels are low

By FRITZ MAYER

DEPOSIT, NY — The flooding of ‘06 hit the Village of Deposit particularly hard, wiping out homes, businesses, police cars, a street sweeper, and perhaps most disturbing, the village’s waste water treatment facility. Deposit mayor Willis Smith said the entire facility was submerged and almost all of the equipment must be repaired or replaced. He said repairs would be complete in six to eight weeks.

In the meantime, up to 350,000 gallons of sewage is being released daily into the West Branch of the Delaware after being treated with chlorine. The West Branch combines with the East Branch and forms the Delaware River at Hancock.

By comparison, nearly 485 million gallons of water per day are now flowing past the gage at Callicoon, some 26 miles south of Deposit, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Diane Carlton, a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), said that the agency is aware of the situation and that there is no other way to deal with it. She said this is having a negative impact on boating and fishing industries, but is not the fault of the sewer operator as it was caused by “the worst flooding in recent memory.”

The National Park Service (NPS) sampled the Delaware River for fecal coliform bacteria at four locations from Lordville to Pond Eddy on July 11, and found that the counts were “quite low.” NPS will provide future sampling results to the public, especially if the agency detects any public health concerns.