Poughkeepsie Journal: An estimated 100,000 people in the Hudson Valley rely on the Hudson for their drinking water. The Hudson continues to be in the spotlight for issues including the controversy over proposed barge anchorages and the PCBs cleanup north of Albany.

Riverkeeper, an environmental group, commissioned the Center for Watershed Protection to produce the report. The recommendations are based on Riverkeeper’s new “Drinking Source Water Protection Scorecard.”

Over the past year, Riverkeeper worked with elected officials from the seven towns and cities to form a collective. The municipalities include the city and town of Poughkeepsie; the village and town of Rhinebeck, the towns of Esopus, Hyde Park and Lloyd and the Dutchess County Water & Wastewater Authority.

The report concluded the towns and cities need to focus on the cleanup of the water source, in this case, the Hudson River, as opposed to first tackling the water treatment plants; the city of Poughkeepsie recently finished $18 million in upgrades to the Poughkeepsie Water Treatment Plant, that it shares with the town of Poughkeepsie.  Read more.