Roger Choate | April, 2002

This month Roger Choate explains how the mighty Hudson River has been transformed from a toxic disaster into a recovery that New Yorkers are proud of.

"Lake Tear of the Clouds" is what the indigenous American Indians called it.

This small body of sparkling water in northern New York State gradually picks up steam, accelerating southward to become the majestic Hudson River - flowing right past Manhattan as a vital commercial artery to the Atlantic Ocean.

	The sun rises over a clean Hudson.

The Hudson has always been one of the most important American rivers for transporting goods. At one time huge steamboats chugged up and down the waterway on a regular basis, transporting passengers and precious wares. Industry, meantime, was built up along the riverbanks to take advantage of the Hudson's proximity to New York City.

But industry polluted without restraint - inevitably - dumping its wastes directly into the waterway. Paper mill wastes combined with raw sewage caused a terrible stench, while fish died near the great power plants along the river that generate massive electrical outputs.

By the 1960s the Hudson was in a sorry state. Then environmental groups pressured the Federal Government in Washington, which after years of outspoken lecturing and lobbying finally got the message. Millions of dollars later, the Hudson is recovering nicely, thanks, while federal laws protect the waterway from the kind of toxic pollution that had almost destroyed it.

That's the good news.

But all had not been solved.

Hi there, please meet the PCBs
It turned out that the giant conglomerate General Electric (GE) had quietly dumped 1.3 million pounds of cancer-causing PCBs into the river over the years. PCBs or polychlorinated biphenyls were widely used as a fire preventive and insulator by the electrical giant before being banned in 1976.

Well informed public opinion and an effective pollution control regime have kept pollution under control.

But the damage remains. PCBs courtesy of General Electric are found throughout the Hudson River ecosystem, affecting fish while moving up the food chain.

The only way to reduce human exposure to this nasty compound is to eat far less fish from the river after carefully cutting away the chemicalized fatty layers. The cancer risks from eating these types of fish from the upper Hudson exceed accepted health norms by 700 times, with children at particular risk.




I'm OK, you're OK
Following public disclosure, the company launched a multi-million dollar PR campaign to convince New Yorkers that "the river is cleaning itself." Nothing to worry about, folks.

To no avail. Responding to massive regional pressure from New Yorkers, the American Government recently announced a plan for dredging up 2.6 million cubic yards of contaminated PCb sediment from a 40-mile stretch. The dredging project, lasting for five years, would cost about USD 460 million.

"The Hudson River is a national treasure," declares the US Government's environmental watchdog Christie Whitman. "This plan brings us closer to one of my overall goals - leaving our water purer for future generations."

However, the Federal Government isn't going to pay. Not one single dollar.
Under federal law, GE will have to cough up the entire sum to clean up its own befoulment of the river. As the powerful Sierra Club environmental group put it: "For too long, General Electric has shirked its responsibility for removing its pollution from this great river, but now it's time for GE to come clean."

Yes, but what about the Ganga?
The Hudson story perhaps offers food for thought for India and the holy Ganga.

For starters, shouldn't polluters be legally liable for cleaning up their own mess? In the case of the Ganga, no less than 114 cities along the river discharge raw sewage into it, every hour of the day: toxic chemicals, heavy metals and life-deforming carcinogens.

In the holy city of Varanasi the fecal-coliform count can be as high as 8,000 times the level acceptable for ritual Ganga bathing along the ghats. Fecal coliform is a measurement of human and animal wastes in water.

In America, the key to river cleanups is public opinion. The Hudson River would still be toxic if environmental groups hadn't mobilized the good citizens.

Which perhaps is the formula for India? Surely, a proactive public awareness campaign about river pollution can break through the firewall of official indifference to the fate of the holy river.

Not one single political party has taken up the cause of the Ganga - yet. But voters can be persuaded to give them good reasons to do just that.

Written by Roger Choate - development coordinator of The Campaign for a Clean Ganga (Swatcha Ganga).