8. Industrial Pollution in the Hudson River
Industrial plant at Hudson Falls on the Upper Hudson River
In the days when industry depended on water power, many factories were located along the upper Hudson. The fast-flowing river provided both power to operate machinery and a convenient means of waste disposal.
Some of the pollutants discharged by these industries have proven to be long-lived in the river. More than a million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), discharged over the years by General Electric manufacturing plants located in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, remain largely undegraded in the upper Hudson's environment.
