Posted by The town of Elizabethtown, county seat for Essex County, has been working for decades to install a wastewater collection and treatment system to replace the numerous old and failing septic systems in the Hamlet. A recent scientific study conducted by Suozzo, Doty and Associates (SDA) and overseen and analyzed by Senior Scientist Michael R. Martin, CLM (founder of LakeStewardship), found a clear link between septic leachate and water quality degradation in the Boquet River tributaries that flow through the hamlet area. This report, The Water Quality of Streams and Rivers in Elizabethtown, NY was published December 24, 2024 and concluded:
There was a preponderance of evidence that suggest septic system leachate is causing water quality impacts to the streams that run through Elizabethtown.
Read the Adirondack Explorer article, Inside Elizabethtown’s 60-year journey to a public sewer system by Tim Rowland and learn more at the Elizabethtown Wastewater Project blog. The SDA report is currently unavailable to the general public but may be posted on the Town’s website or the Elizabethton Wastewater Project blog.
Photo credit: Confluence of The Branch and Barton Brook in the hamlet of Elizabethtown. © Michael R. Martin, CLM
Lake Stewardship 