Washington Lake remains off limits for drinking water
NEWBURGH – A group of Newburgh residents has filed papers in State Supreme Court seeking approval to sue the City of Newburgh over the contamination of its reservoir, Washington Lake, with the carcinogenic chemicals PFOS and PFOA.
In court papers obtained by Mid-Hudson News, the group’s attorney, Tate Kunkle, said Newburgh and other entities should be held accountable for the chemical and what it has potentially done to residents’ health.
“There is certainly a multitude of entities that have some culpability here that should be held liable,” he said. “I am not exactly sure on how you would divide it percentage wise, but we will be going after all of the responsible entities to get the people the help they need.”
Kunkle said it is believed damage to individuals’ health came predominantly from ingesting the water.
Likely targets of any lawsuits would be the Department of Defense because the chemicals have been traced to firefighting foam at the New York Air National Guard Base at nearby Stewart Airport, as well as manufacturers of the foam, Kunkle said.
The law firm at which Kunkle is an associate attorney, Napoli Shkolnik, has been involved in other tainted water cases, some including PFOS.
Washington Lake has not been providing Newburgh’s water ever since the city shut off the spigot last year. Its water source has been, and continues to be, the New York City Catskill Aqueduct with the state picking up the tab while at the same time, it installed a carbon filtration system at Washington Lake.
