At a glance
The July 29 storm did more than flood basements. DPW told the committee that eight to nine inches of rain pushed the sewer system past its limit, and that the brick and stone sewers under Columbia, Union and State Streets shed enough material into the flow to fill the treatment plant's bar screen with about five feet of bricks and rock. The plant was out of service for a couple of days while it was vacuumed out. The warning that followed was the news: with the sewers scoured, the city should expect sinkholes over the next few months. The committee also heard the water plant has won a $50,000 cybersecurity assessment grant, and that three water mains broke in the past month.
Sewer Revenue and the New Permit
The report opened with the numbers, which are on track.
Key points
- June acceptance revenue was $54,875. The significance, DPW said, is that the city is on par to make its 2026 sewer revenue line.
- A new permit discussed at last month's meeting took effect on August 1.
- The new composite sampler for the contact tank has arrived but is not yet installed. It needs power and a data run, then bottles.
- Once running, it will take a sample from every rain-event overflow through the contact tank and hold it in a refrigerated container, because some compounds have to stay cold or the colonies grow and the reading stops reflecting what was actually discharged.
- Current discharge limits were described as soft, with a five-year schedule agreed with DEC to work out what it will take to meet them consistently. DPW framed this as going from no measurements, no quantities and no sampling to strict regulation.
The July 29 Storm: What Eight Inches of Rain Did
DPW walked the committee through photographs of the flooding and what it revealed about the state of the system.
Key points
- The storm dropped eight to nine inches of rain on July 29.
- A catch basin at Mill Street sat under six to eight inches of water, and so did the manholes in the streets. Manholes are not watertight, so a foot of water on top means the system beneath is full to the brim. That is why water and storm water came up in basements.
- Manholes were surcharging at State Street. Eighth Street had almost two feet of water on one side. The Dock and Mill intersection flooded.
- One committee member said the floor drains in his own house stopped draining to the sewer for an hour or so, and he took on about two inches, because there was nowhere for it to go.
- DPW's summary of it: that is what a flood is.
The Mill Street photograph is the same Mill Street that runs through the archive as an ongoing story. Here it appears as a drainage problem, not a development one.
Bricks in the Bar Screen, and Sinkholes Coming
The most consequential part of the report was about what the flow carried into the plant, and what its absence underground will now cause.
Key points
- The photographs showed broken-off bricks and stones that had come out of the collection system itself. Hudson still has stone and brick sewers under Columbia, Union and State Streets, and pieces of them were ripped out by the flow.
- About five feet of bricks, stones and rock ended up in the plant's new bar screen. A contractor had to be brought in to vacuum it all out, and it took a couple of days to get the plant back into shape.
- DPW's warning: with the sewers now compromised, the flows running through them will grab more material. Traffic overhead shakes it loose, the sewer carries it away, and eventually the road above gives way. The city should expect a lot of sinkholes over the next couple of months.
No repair programme or cost was presented for this at the meeting. The sinkhole warning was given as an expectation, not as a plan with a budget attached.
$50,000 to Find the Holes in the Water Plant's Software
The water side of the report led with a grant.
Key points
- The city has been awarded a $50,000 cybersecurity assessment grant for the water plant.
- The plant was built in 2005 and designed starting in 2003. DPW's description of its technology today was two cans and a string.
- The grant pays for a firm that is hired to break into the system and expose vulnerabilities. Whatever they find becomes a remediation plan, and that plan becomes the basis of an application for a hardware grant from the Department of Health or EFC.
- The hardware target is the plant's control systems: the PLCs, the computers and the SCADA logic that run treatment.
Three Water Main Breaks in a Month
Unusual for the season, DPW said.
Key points
- Three breaks in the past month: one in the 400 block of Columbia Street, one in the 200 block of Columbia Street, and one at Fourth and State.
- Crews leave some water flowing during excavation on purpose, because watching where it comes in is how they locate the main and the break.
- At Fourth and State the valves would not hold completely, which DPW said is an issue at a lot of intersections because many of the city's valves are very old. Extra pumps were brought in.
- Separately, a clay tile sewer with a broken hub was repaired, located using dye.
The Reservoir Held, Unlike in Irene
A comparison that put the storm in proportion.
Key points
- During the July 29 storm the reservoir sat six inches above the spillway, still inside the green range on the gauge.
- During Hurricane Irene, which brought seven inches of rain, it was twenty inches over and near the top of the yellow range. That required emergency action: shutting the plant off, diverting the supply lines into the reservoir, and opening blow-off valves below it to drop the level.
- Nothing like that was needed this time. DPW noted the storm was a valley event, worst nearest the river, and that a site eight miles away saw far less rain than the city did.
- A biannual DEC inspection of the dam is scheduled for later this month. Consultants have been engaged to update a set of plans that needed it.
Sidewalks, a Crosswalk and the Rotary Clock
Smaller items, one of which touches a live policy question.
Key points
- DPW is repairing degraded sidewalk at Fourth and State near the parking lot, where the city is the property owner. On the wider question, DPW said that under the sidewalk law the city has largely lost its authority to make private owners fix the walk in front of their houses.
- A crosswalk installed by Amtrak now needs repair by the city. DPW offered it as an example of outside companies doing the initial work and leaving the maintenance behind.
- The rotary clock came up again: the mechanism is proprietary and DPW put the upgrade at around $10,000. It can be done whenever anyone budgets for it.
- On parking signs, DPW noted seeing signs mounted on twelve-foot poles in another city where people still paid, after complaints here that Hudson's signs are too high to read.
- Overflow from the cemetery pond runs under Route 23 and into Greenport, which DPW said the city used to take the blame for.
The rotary clock upgrade was given as roughly $10,000 in conversation, referring back to a bid from a couple of years ago. It is not a current quote.
About this page
FUTURE HUDSON is an experiment in civic engagement: every public meeting of the City of Hudson since January 2026, transcribed and made readable, so any resident can follow what the city is deciding without attending every meeting. This page covers one meeting; see the full archive.
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