Lori Sonken

Lead shot found at Ithaca Falls in 2015.

Test results from soil samples collected by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in August 2017, but not publicly disclosed until last week, confirm what investigators found in February 2018 – lead levels on the Ithaca Falls Gorge Trail exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) removal management level at 400 parts per million (PPM).

“Neither DEC nor EPA alerted the public to this documented public health threat. That is why I did,” said environmental advocate Walter Hang.

Casey Martin

Several years ago on Mother’s Day, Esther Herkowitz, tried to plant rose bushes in memory of her mother and grandmother. Instead of soil, she hit cement, metal bits and rebar.

“That was when I found out that I bought a mobile home on an unkempt toxic dump,” she said.

Governor Cuomo plans to develop an action plan by this Spring to reduce sources of pollution that spark the algal blooms that closed portions of Cayuga Lake to swimming last summer, even threatening the popular Women Swimmin fundraiser for Hospicare. But not everyone thinks the state’s ambitious timeframe, nor its relatively paltry financial contributions, are realistic in addressing the root of the problem.