It's amazing what government records you can find on the internet. No, Area 51 documents aren't declassified yet, but you can snoop on tons of local government activity, including how our public water is handled. Billions and billions of gallons are produced by local water treatment plant all over the Hudson Valley every year, but for every billion, millions of gallons disappear, and are classified as "water loss". Which town in the Hudson Valley "loses" the most?

AndreyPopov/Canva
AndreyPopov/Canva
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Water Loss in the Hudson Valley

There are many reasons for water loss, some more necessary than others. The City of Poughkeepsie explained their calculations in their most recent report:

Losses includes water loss at existing storage tank, surveyed and nonsurveyed water main and service connection leak detection. In addition, Water Losses also includes unaccounted for metering inaccuracies, unaccounted for authorized consumption, unaccounted for apparent losses and firefighting.

Water pumped through hydrants to help local fire departments is clearly a loss we can all agree is unavoidable. Leaks and unauthorized use, not so much. Some of the most populated cities and towns in the Hudson Valley reported their most recent water loss statistics, and they're ranked below.

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nancykennedy
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5. Town of Poughkeepsie, NY Water Losses

The town of Poughkeepsie, NY was impressively frugal with their water loss. Of the 2.6 billion gallons of water that was distributed, only a 9% loss, or roughly 204 million gallons, was reported. The town does say that they use an active leak detection system, but losing that many gallons of water is like leaving your shower running for over 28,000 days straight. Yikes.

Dawn Benko for Townsquare Media
Dawn Benko for Townsquare Media
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4. Water Losses in the City of Middletown, NY

Middletown, NY measures their water in MGDs, or Million-Gallons-per-Day. On average, the city reported water production of 2.3 MGD, with metered usage at 1.96 MGD, which equates to a daily loss of 370,000 gallons of water. That's like running your dishwasher 74,000 times in 24 hours. Sounds intense, but it works out to a pretty respectable 15.6% water loss.

nancykennedy
nancykennedy
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3. Water Losses in the City of Newburgh, NY

Newburgh had high water losses in the city. Of the 1.1 billion gallons that were produced, 414 million gallons were reported as losses. That's like flushing even the most economical toilet over 258 million times. On the bright side, the city does report that yearly leak surveys are conducted to make sure the water system doesn't suffer that kind of loss, but at 38%, their losses are still high.

TSM
TSM
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2. Water Losses in Kingston, NY

Of the 1.3 billion gallons of water that were delivered in Kingston, NY, 531 million gallons were listed as water losses. That's like filling up bathtubs for the entire population of New York City. The math ends up reporting a water loss statistic of roughly 40%.

PATRICK TEWEY
PATRICK TEWEY
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1. City of Poughkeepsie, NY Water Losses

Poughkeepsie, NY suffered very high water losses. Of the 1.6 billion gallons of water that was distributed in the city in 2020, almost half (762.6 million gallons) was classified as a loss. That's over 1,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water. The 46% water loss is one of the highest in the Hudson Valley.

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