MECHANICVILLE (AP) – The environmental group Riverkeeper is expanding its Hudson River water quality testing program to the river’s source high in the Adirondack Mountains.

Riverkeeper’s pollution-seeking patrol boat has been a common sight on the Hudson River estuary from New York Harbor to the Albany area for nearly a decade. On Tuesday, the group and numerous partners will test the water quality in the 150-mile stretch from Troy to Newcomb in the central Adirondacks.

Combined with recent sampling of the lower Hudson and the river’s largest tributary, the Mohawk River, the project will give a snapshot of water quality throughout the waterway.

Riverkeeper’s Dan Shapley says the goals are to collect data for scientific studies, alert communities to sewage pollution and tell the public where the water is safe for recreation.