WASHINGTON – A total of $890,851 in federal funding has been allocated through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand a biomonitoring program to better assess the extent of PFAS in New York communities.
New York is one of six recipients for this funding and is expected to receive about $5 million in federal funding for the study over a five year period.
“From Newburgh to Hoosick Falls to Suffolk County, New Yorkers across the state have been plagued by the toxic contamination of their drinking water by PFAS. Worse still, we don’t even know the complete extent of this carcinogenic contamination Upstate and on Long Island,” said Senator Charles Schumer. “Fortunately, with this federal funding, New York will be able to expand its PFAS biomonitoring program to better identify exactly how its residents’ health and well-being are being impacted by this pollution.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand she has “long called for the CDC to conduct blood testing for New York residents so that they can better understand what PFAS exposure means for their health, and this CDC funding will help New York expand their biomonitoring program to do just that.” She said it is “an important step forward.”
PFOS and PFOA chemicals were discovered in Washington Lake, the City of Newburgh’s reservoir, over three years ago, and since then, it has been shut down with safe drinking water being piped in from the New York City Catskill Aqueduct.
The source of the contamination has been identified as the nearby Air National Guard Base at Stewart Airport.
