Heitzman: “… focusing on
sampling wells …”
WASHINGTONVILLE – Following state Department of Environmental Conservation
investigations within the greater Newburgh area regarding the PFOS water
crisis, DEC samplings from Beaver Dam Lake have been found to have PFOS
contamination as well.
The DEC is continuing to investigate areas, including taking samples from private wells within the Beaver Dam Lake District and Moodna Creek water shed, to determine the levels of PFOS exposure that are believed to also be part of the contamination stemming from the Stewart National Guard Base, as well as from other potential sources, including remnants from the 1996 FedEx cargo aircraft fire.
Monday evening, DEC and state health officials held a public information forum regarding the results of the samplings.
So far, some 133 samples have been taken in total, 82 of which have come from the Beaver Dam Lake District.
George Heitzman, director of the environmental remediation bureau specializing in brownfield and superfund sites for the DEC, said their detection of PFOS contamination in the Beaver Dam Lake District area was found as a result of their investigations of the Washington Lake contamination.
Heitzman said although the surface water tests of the Beaver Dam Lake yielded non-detect results for PFOS, private wells are responsible for more than 80 percent of residential drinking water in the area and PFOS contamination has been found in a cluster of groundwater through private well samplings.
“The Department of Health is focusing on sampling wells in the immediate vicinity of Beaver Dam Lake, and in a small area in the northwest corner of the lake, where we appear to have a cluster of detections that may be attributable to a local source,” said Heitzman. “People in those particular areas will be given priority to have their wells sampled and if a detection is found, the state DEC will install a carbon treatment system on their wells.”
These carbon filtration systems are estimated by the DEC to cost approximately $14,000.
Washingtonville resident Jerry Slamka said he believes there are other avenues for acquiring carbon filtration systems that eradicate PFOS for a fraction of that cost and concerned residents who are considered by the state to not be within a proximity entitling them to state coverage for the filtration system should not have to pay $14,000 for a filtration system. Slamka said he acquired his system for approximately $6,000 and the local pharmacy in Washingtonville provides literature for a system costing approximately $11,000.
“The thing is, $14,000, somebody is ripping off everybody really, really big time here and the state doesn’t care; it’s not their dollars, it’s our tax dollars and it shouldn’t have to be, not when there’s options that are less than half that cost,” said Slamka. “It’s something I think the people should check into instead of waiting and the thing is, they need to know about it.”
According to DEC officials, there hasn’t yet been an established proximity that determines whether or not individuals are entitled to having a no-cost installation of a carbon filtration system on their private well, it is still too soon in the investigation process.
The DEC and NYSDOH investigation has yielded, thus far, 24 locations with PFOS detection within the area and filtration systems were installed at 22 private well sites, 20 of which have been determined to provide completely safe drinking water as a result. The investigation and sampling will continue with a scheduled 50 to 70 additional private well samplings.
The meeting drew a large crowd
