Mystery Foam Discharged from CWM

Picture above: yachts moored at the Youngstown Yacht Club

On mornings when the river water is warmer than the air, the Niagara River exhales a misty breath of fog that hovers above the water. Robbyn and I took to the river on just such a day in early October, with a shroud of fog so thick we could barely see in front of us. We hugged the shore lest we drift over to Canada without realizing it or get run over by a motor boat suddenly looming out of the pea soup fog. We launched into the white cloud at Joe Davis State Park and headed downriver.

After a few minutes of paddling, we discerned a yellowish-white substance on the shoreline--it wasn't fog or snow; it was a gelatinous, Jabba the Hut blob of foam. And it was coming from Chemical Waste Management's (CWM) pipe into the river.

Every year, CWM, a toxic waste dump in Porter, flushes out the water from their stormwater retention ponds. Supposedly, they treat it and then release it into the river. They have a permit to do so. However, their permit explicitly states that CWM will "not discharge floating solids or visible foam." Whoops.


Picture: Huge blob of foam at base of pipe, SPDES Permit No. 0072061, Outfall #001

Farther downstream, we spoke with a resident working on his dock. He had noticed the foam and said his property was right next to "some company." A house-cat delicately picked its way across the discharging pipe. Clearly, residents are unaware that an unknown substance is lurking in the vicinity and that parts of it break off and move downstream to private docks. Or that their pets may track it into their house.

The foam has been reported to DEC officials. It's still there, as of October 26th. Anyone who encounters foam, oil, or spills on the river are encouraged to report them to Riverkeeper at 852-7483 or report them directly to the NYS DEC spill hotline at 1-800-457-7362.