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Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Healthcare worker Malcolm Olaker holds a sign at a forum on the City of Newburgh water crisis at Mount Saint Mary College in September.
incoming water from the polluted
stream.
A granular-activated, carbon filtration
system was installed to filter out PFOS in
the lake. Again, work was overseen and
paid for by the state.
“We’re now working with the city to
provide funding to construct a brand
Newburgh City Manager Michael Ciaravino
describes the Washington Lake watershed
as a funnel, with Stewart Air National Guard
Base and “the airport at the top of the
funnel.”
new, state-of-the-art treatment plant that
will use carbon filtration,” Hutton told
residents at the Newburgh Armory last
month. “Once it’s constructed in the fall,
you will move back to Lake Washington
(water).”
“The really important message you
should know is, you are drinking clean
water,” he said. “There is no PFOS in the
water now.”
Action by the state
“It’s deplorable that this is
happening in the United States of
America,” said Cynthia Mack, speaking
of PFOS and other chemicals being
found in public drinking water at a
meeting at Mount Saint Mary College
in September. “Who is going to be
responsible?”
Recent actions by the state
underscore a push to tackle drinking-
water quality issues head on. “Public
water is tested for nearly 100 different
chemical compounds and other
characteristics to make sure it is good,
clean water,” Hutton said.
“As part of the federal response
to test for an emerging group of
contaminants, in 2013 through 2015,
those larger systems had to test for a new
group of compounds.”
The EPA defines an “emerging
contaminant” as a “chemical or material
that is characterized by perceived,
potential or real threat to human health
or the environment, or by a lack of
published health standards.”
According to the DEC, PFOS was
first detected in City of Newburgh water
in 2014. The sampling was part of the
EPA’s third Unregulated Contaminant
Rule, which required large water
supplies be tested for select, unregulated
contaminants, including PFOS and
PFOA.
“The city collected four samples,
which had detections of PFOS ranging
between 140 and 170 ppt and reported
these results to the EPA and to the public
in annual water quality reports,” the
DEC states.
In 2016, an initiative by Governor
Andrew Cuomo launched the Water
Quality Rapid Response Team to identify
possible threats to drinking-water
supplies around the state. This resulted
in additional sampling that spring.
And, when PFOS was again detected
at elevated levels in the city’s drinking
water, a red flag was raised.
Studies on the human health effects
from PFOS exposure are few. However,
existing studies show that high levels of
exposure to PFOA and PFOS “may result
in adverse health effects” in developing
fetuses, breastfed infants, the liver and
the immune system, the DEC writes.
Following pressure from residents
and local government officials, the
state launched a biomonitoring
program offering free, PFOS blood
testing in Newburgh in the fall. Of the
1,186 people who have had their blood
tested, 740 people have so far received
test results.
Next week, the series will focus on the
state’s blood-testing program and the
health effects from exposure to PFOS.
Rollover on River Road
Bob McCormick
Town of Newburgh Police were dispatched to a one-car roll over on River Road in the area of
the Balmville tree on April 2. State Police and town units arrived and found the unoccupied
vehicle in a ditch line. Middlehope firefighters were dispatched to the scene along with Town
of Newburgh EMS.