Adam Bosch at the Times Herald-Record had a bang-up story yesterday about the embattled Esopus Creek.
According to a letter sent by U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Esopus Creek has become too shallow for a Coast Guard vessel stationed in Saugerties to safely make it to the Hudson River, Bosch wrote:
The Esopus Creek is becoming so shallow that a Coast Guard ship docked there could be forced to relocate to New Jersey or risk being stuck in the creek, a federal lawmaker said. Sen. Chuck Schumer has urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the Esopus Creek so that a Coast Guard cutter docked in Saugerties can reach the Hudson River.
Bosch reported that the creek is getting shallower because sediment seems to be collecting on the bottom. But he couldn't get anyone to explain where exactly that sediment was coming from:
Sediment has been accumulating at the confluence of the Esopus and the Hudson River, where the water is sometimes as shallow as 2.3 feet. Officials could not immediately say why the water is becoming more shallow.
Ulster County officials and the New York City Department of Environmental Projection have been fighting most of this year about excess sediment washing from New York City reservoirs into the Esopus. Might that excess sediment be causing the river to get shallower downstream?
