Washington Lake currently not supplying water to the city
NEWBURGH – There are apparently more than just PFOS and PFOA contaminants in Washington Lake, Newburgh’s main water supply.
City Manager Michael Ciaravino revealed at Monday night’s city council meeting that a radioactive chemical has also been found in the lake.
“What I have learned is that when you cut granite, certain radioactive emissions occur in the granite. There is one called strontium, which has been detected in previous water samples,” he said. “We have asked the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to examine the relationship between this granite cutting concern and some of the other contaminants that have yet to be identified in our drinking water.”
Ciaravino said there is a granite cutting business on Route 300 not far from Washington Lake that could be adding to the contamination problems.
The lake has been taken offline as a drinking water supply and Newburgh has been using water from the New York City aqueduct for the last number of weeks.
