181 



tons of sewage sludge during 1982; this represents under 50% 

 of the total for that year. 



The City is currently constructing the Red Hook, and North 

 River sewage treatment plants. These two plants will treat sewage 

 that is now flowing untreated into the Hudson River and the Upper 

 Bay. The City's commitment to building these two plants under 

 the requirements of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act is 

 probably the single most important and cost effective measure that 

 can be taken to improve the condition of the receiving waters. 

 Under the current schedule, advanced preliminary treatment will 

 begin at the North River plant by early 1986 and the Red Hook plant 

 by August 1987. Full secondary treatment could be available by 

 1989 and 1991. The total capital costs of completing these two 

 plants exceed $1 billion. 



The siudge which is produced by the City's 12 operating 

 treatment plants contains trace amounts of heavy metals such as 

 lead, copper, mercury, and cadmium, and some persistent organic 

 compounds such as PCB's. Thus, sludge is one source, but a minor 

 source, of these pollutants in the Bight. Much more important in 

 terms of total loadings are imputs from the Hudson-Raritan 

 estuaries due to industrial and municipal discharges at varying 

 levels of treatment, as well as raw sewage and significant combined 

 sewer overflows; dredged material dumping; surface run-off; and 

 atmospheric deposition. Our data indicate that sewage sludge 

 disposal contributes from 2 to 11 percent of the individual metals 

 and toxic organics of concern and two-tenths of one percent of the 



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