ALBANY – A new statewide report reveals that more than a half billion gallons of poisonous liquid is consistently making its way into the drinking water of nearly two million people.
New York River Watch, an environmental advocacy group dedicated to protecting New York’s waterways, released the report on Thursday.
Titled The Leachate Loophole in New York State, the report reveals data from state landfills and municipal sewage treatments plants between 2019 and 2023.
It shows that about one third of landfill leachate is being sent to treatment plants and is ultimately being discharged into rivers and lakes.
Leachate or “garbage water” is formed when rainwater or snow falls on landfills and seeps into the soil.
“This report shows that the garbage we bury does not disappear,” said Rebecca Martin, Co-founder and Executive Director of New York River Watch. “It returns to our rivers, lakes and drinking water as toxic liquid waste. This is a statewide drinking water issue, a public health issue and an environmental justice issue. New York needs to close the Leachate Loophole and address the toxic chemicals in our waste stream.”
The group says that landfills are required to contain leachate because of its hazardous chemicals, but municipal sewage treatment plants are not designed or equipped to remove those toxic contaminants.
The report shows that the Hudson River, a major drinking water source, is one of four rivers in New York to receive the largest amount of leachate.
“The findings in this report raise significant concerns for the more than 107,000 residents who rely on the Hudson River as their primary source of drinking water,” said Rhinebeck Mayor Gary Bassett, Chair of the Hudson River Drinking Water Intermunicipal Council (Hudson 7). “Protecting drinking water requires a proactive approach that prevents pollution from reaching the river in the first place, rather than relying solely on treatment after it enters the drinking water supply.”
The group says leachate is being discharged into rivers, which supply drinking water to New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other Pennsylvania municipalities.
The report also highlights the concentration of leachate management among a small number of large waste corporations.
Each of the three private companies earned up to $25 billion in revenue in 2025 and are managing half of the leachate generated by active New York landfills.
“The discharge of leachate poison into our river is a travesty. It is incomprehensible that state regulators have been aware of this massive statewide source of toxic pollution for decades and are only now beginning to act,” said Captain John Lipscomb, technical advisor to the project. “It is our mess, our poison and it is being legally dumped into our rivers, our ecosystems, and our drinking water. Ending this pollution is entirely within the power of our state regulators and our governor.”
River Watch is calling on Governor Hochul and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to amend its current proposal, which the group says fails to include the effects of inactive and closed landfills.
The group is also calling for a 30-day extension of the public comment period, which ends on September 9.