Mid Hudson Times , Wednesday , February 1 , 2017
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Woman jumps from Newburgh-Beacon Bridge
Man jumps from Mid-Hudson Bridge
By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewspapers . com
A 48-year-old woman plunged to her death in an apparent suicide over the weekend , New York State Police report . A passing motorist who spotted the woman with her hands on the railing on the westbound side of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge contacted police around 7 p . m . on Sunday .
“ A subsequent investigation revealed that the 48-year-old woman had jumped off of the bridge into the Hudson River prior to police arriving on scene ,” state police said . The police have identified the woman as Melissa Zukowski of Beacon .
A City of Newburgh fire-marine crew recovered the woman ’ s body about an hour and a half later , near the shoreline just south of Beacon .
Around the same time on Sunday , another motorist made a 911 phone call to
report a man had jumped off of the Mid Hudson Bridge . The City of Poughkeepsie Fire Department and the New York State Police aviation unit searched the water for two hours but did not find a body , City of Poughkeepsie Det . Lt . Matt Clark said .
“ At this time , I don ’ t think there is any relation between the two incidents ,” said Clark .
The City of Newburgh Fire Department was notified shortly before 8 p . m . on Sunday .
The crew aboard the Andrew J . Downing fire and rescue boat was able to locate the woman ’ s body within six minutes of the boat ’ s departure from shore , City of Newburgh Fire Chief Terry Ahlers said , thanks to state-of-art technology including a FLIR camera .
“ FLIR stands for , ‘ forward-looking infrared ,’” Ahlers said . “ It allows you to see in the dark and pick up differences in temperature . And , it shows us exact shapes
A Beacon woman jumped from the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge over the weekend .
in the water .”
The rescue boat was placed into service in July , replacing a smaller , rescue boat that had been in service for almost 20 years , Ahlers said . The boat was taken out of the water for winter storage in November .
State approves private-well connections to town water mains
By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewspapers . com
The state has announced it will pay to connect 20 private wells to municipal water mains in the towns of Newburgh and New Windsor . Located near Washington Lake , the wells were contaminated with PFOS from Stewart Air National Guard Base .
“ Given the close proximity of these wells to the contamination at Stewart Air National Guard Base - which was recently declared a state Superfund site - the state will reimburse the two towns for costs associated with connecting homes with private wells impacted by PFOA and PFOS contamination to the municipal water supply system ,” the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation stated Thursday .
The properties are located on Steele Road , Little Britain Road , Weather Oak Hill Road and Browns Drive . The hookups will be included along with six previously slated private-well connections in the same area , the DEC states . The project is expected to cost the state $ 700,000 .
Last year , the state Department of Health sampled 51 private wells in areas surrounding Washington Lake and found 26 wells had low-level detections of PFOA and PFOS . The DEC reports none of the
More than two dozen private wells near Washington Lake have been found to contain PFCs .
samples tested above the EPA ’ s health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion .
“ We ’ re hoping it will be done quickly ,” said Town of New Windsor Supervisor George Green . Work bids are expected to go out sometime in the spring , he said .
Green said the New Windsor properties were within a “ reasonable distance ” from the town water main . “ We can extend the water district to get to them ,” he said .
PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA ) belong to a group of manmade chemicals known as perfluorinated compounds ( PFCs ), used for decades in products that resist heat , stains , grease and water . These products include nonstick cookware , carpeting , clothing and fire foam .
The chemicals have been found throughout the City of Newburgh watershed . Testing last year revealed PFOS contamination of the City of Newburgh water supply at Washington Lake . The city was forced to tap into the Catskill Aqueduct to draw drinking water following test results in the spring . Beaver Dam Lake and nearby private wells were also found to contain PFCs .
Tests traced the source of the contamination back to Recreation Pond at Stewart International Airport , where PFOS-containing fire foam was used at the Stewart Air National Guard Base .
In addition to paying for the well connections , aqueduct water , the cleanup at Washington Lake and the installation of a new water treatment system at the City of Newburgh water plant , the state is also administering PFOS blood-testing program . “ The state and the DEC have
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