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Hudson River Health Alert Lifted In Time for Ironman Event

Updated at 4:07 p.m. with comments from John Korff, director of the Ironman competition.

SLEEPY HOLLOW, N.Y. – Westchester County officials are lifting a health advisory for the Hudson River at 11 p.m. Friday after about 3.4 million gallons of chlorinated sewage was discharged into the Hudson River.

“The advisory is being lifted Friday evening, Aug. 10, because the elapsed time since the discharge stopped would have allowed it to dissipate,” the county Health Department said in a statement.

Friday's announcement also means the New York City Ironman competition will not be affected by the sewage discharge. The triathlon includes a 2.4 mile swim in the Hudson River just south of where the leak was located. The swim portion of the triathalon begins at 6:50 a.m., just about eight hours after the county is set to lift its health advisory. 

Ironman Director John Korff said the swimming portion of the race would remain and that officials were excited about the competition.

“We're good,” he said. “We will swim, bike and run.”

Rye Brook doctor Richard Izzo is competing in Saturday's race and says he was not concerned about swimming in the river after the sewage discharge.

“I don't have many reservations,” he said. “I swim in the Hudson all the time. The bottom line is they did a controlled leak. They know what they're doing.”

Crews fixed a broken Tarrytown sewer line that caused officials to divert several million gallons of sewage into the Hudson River. The repair means that the sewage system is working normally and sending everything to a treatment plant in Yonkers.

The sewer line break occurred Wednesday afternoon, causing 500,000 gallons of sewage to be dumped into the Hudson River at Yonkers. Officials diverted about 3 million gallons of sewage to a Sleepy Hollow discharge point after discovering the break. The controlled discharge was chlorinated before entering the river.

County health officials had advised boaters, kayakers and swimmers to stay out of the water. Several beaches on the Hudson River, including the Philipse Manor Beach Club and Croton Point Park, have been closed because of the advisory.

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