Rockland residents demand greater state action on county water contamination

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Photo: Lance Cpl. Shawn Valosin/U.S. Marine Corps.

NEW CITY – Rockland County residents are calling on the Cuomo administration to do more to protect public health from chemical contamination in the county’s water supply caused by PFAS chemicals.

The Rockland Water Coalition, Food & Water Watch, Riverkeeper, NYPIRG and Environmental Advocate of New York, Monday, say public health is at risk.

“The Cuomo administration must step up their monitoring efforts and intervene on the public’s behalf,” said Eric Weltman, senior New York organizer with Food & Water Watch, a member of the Rockland Water Coalition. “New Yorkers deserve clean, affordable, and safe drinking water, every time they turn on the tap. Governor Cuomo must take action on this issue immediately, before any more residents are put at risk,” he said during a news conference on Monday.

“It is genuinely frightening to think that my children have been and are being exposed to toxic chemicals in their drinking water,” said Molly Findlay, a Rockland County mother. “These are chemicals for which there are no known safe limits.”

“Research studies have shown that PFAS impairs the immune system response to COVID itself and to the vaccine as well,” said Mari da Silva, environmental and climate justice chair of NAACP NY Conference. “This PFAS contamination affects poor populations in Rockland County that are already burdened with other environmental impacts, such as air pollution, which also impair the response to COVID.”




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