NEWBURGH – City Manager Michael Ciaravino continues to press the state Department of Environmental Conservation for an answer to Newburgh’s latest issue regarding its PFOS contaminated Washington Lake water supply, which last week was declared a Superfund site contaminated from Air National Guard activities at nearby Stewart Airport.
It has not been tapped for drinking water in months, but it is at a point where it will begin to overflow unless it is drained down and Ciaravino said to let it overflow is not good. He is seeking state advice as to how to handle the situation.
“The dilemma we face is that we cannot allow the water to overtop the dam – a Class ‘C’ High Hazard dam – and possibly undermine the integrity of the dam itself and the City of Newburgh water treatment plant,” he told a top DEC official in an August 17 letter.
But, he said the city is reluctant to release possible contaminated water to the Moodna Creek or Quassaick Creek “and put downstream surface water and groundwater users at risk.”
The manager offered three alternatives to the DEC – pump water from the point where Silver Stream discharges into Washington Lake; siphon water over the dam into Masterson’s Lake and then into the Quassaick Creek to the Hudson River; or install a temporary mobile granulated activated carbon water treatment unit, using the same technology used in the permanent facility the state is designing for the city’s water supply system.
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