URGENT: The Dangerous Leachate Loophole
* Read SAVE Colonie’s letter presented to the Town of Colonie Board at their February 13, 2025 meeting.
The Hudson and Mohawk Leachate Collaborative has released a major report revealing that toxic landfill leachate, consisting of liquids percolating down through landfills across the state, is being collected, sent to municipal water treatment facilities, and then discharged directly into the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers.
If this leachate were discharged at the landfills, it would have to be treated to render it non-toxic. But, and here’s the loophole, since it is instead discharged through a municipal treatment plant, it is not regulated.
Why is this a problem? Isn’t the leachate treated at the municipal wastewater plant? NO! These plants are designed to treat municipal wastewater, residential sewage and greywater only. Landfill leachate is composed of the worst sort of chemicals and toxins, manufacturing waste products, carcinogens and chemical combinations that have never been studied or approved, including more than 15,000 PFAS chemicals. What this toxic stew is doing to our water resources, aquatic life and our drinking water is frightening. There is technology available to address this loophole. What can be done?
* Learn more by watching the Hudson and Mohawk Leachate Collaborative’s excellent January 6, 2025 WEBINAR, "The Threat of Landfill Leachate to DrinkingWater in the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers"
* Check out the Coalition’s Report
* Take action. Use the Coalition’s link to comment to the DEC on their proposed loophole-closing regulations