Normanskill re-routed after landslide
The Enterprise — Michael Koff
Normal water levels: A collapse of a slope along the Normanskill on Sunday caused officials to declare a state of emergency, for fear that the blockage could lead to flooding upstream in Albany, Bethlehem, and Guilderland. On Monday, the Normanskill remained unaffected in Guilderland, as it flowed under Route 146. On Tuesday afternoon, the state of emergency in Guilderland was lifted.
ALBANY COUNTY — A large section of a sloping bank collapsed into the Normanskill on Sunday night, cutting off the flow of water and prompting County Executive Daniel McCoy to declare a state of emergency.
On Tuesday afternoon, McCoy announced the immediate crisis had been averted, and reduced the size of the area that was considered under a state of emergency.
The 170-mile long Normanskill runs southeast from Duanesburg to the mouth of the Hudson River in Bethlehem. In Guilderland, it is dammed to create the Watervliet Reservoir, a drinking water source for the two municipalities.
The slope that gave way was near the Normanside Country Club in Bethlehem and it blocked more than 250 feet of the creek between the golf course on the Bethlehem side and the Capital Hills Golf Course on the Albany side.
Water could not pass the blockage and the creek rose upstream in Albany, Bethlehem, and toward Guilderland.
The Watervliet Reservoir, located in Guilderland, would have been able to hold water back for two days, and it would have taken more rain than expected to cause a true problem in that area, according to Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple.
At a press briefing at the Capital Hills Golf Course on Tuesday, McCoy described how pumps had been brought in to siphon away some of the water that was building up behind the blockage, and excavators and bulldozers had dug an eight-foot deep trench, effectively rerouting a portion of the creek to let the water flow.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the water level had dropped by four feet compared to the previous day, and the dammed water had all “flowed by with no problem,” said Apple.
The immediate danger has passed, and there is no threat to Guilderland, but, said McCoy, it could be months before the damage from the collapse is rectified.
It is possible that the trench diverting the water could become the permanent course of the Normanskill, he said. Crews are working to widen it from 15 feet to 30 feet.
The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, meanwhile, will be investigating what may have caused the collapse in the first place and a state of emergency was still in place Wednesday between the Normanskill Bridge and the Delaware Avenue Bridge.
