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Mid Hudson Times , Wednesday , July 13 , 2016
City manager provides water crisis update
By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewspapers . com
Newburgh City Manager Michael Ciaravino gave an update on the city water crisis caused by PFOS contamination at City Hall on Monday .
“ For a number of weeks now , we ’ ve been drawing entirely off the Catskill Aqueduct for our water ,” the city manager said . “ We have altered our chemical treatment profiles to utilize this water to deliver you the purest , cleanest , healthiest , safest water we can . And our promise to you is that we will continue to do so .”
Ciaravino said city water is now free of the chemical PFOS . “ The water that you are drinking has none of the PFOS or any of the emerging contaminants that we have become aware of ,” he said .
The City of Newburgh was forced to change its water source from Washington Lake to Brown ’ s Pond when learning of elevated levels of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate ( PFOS ) in the water supply in May .
The city switched to using water from the aqueduct when water levels began to run low at Brown ’ s Pond several weeks ago . In the aftermath of the crisis , the state promised to assist the city with costs for aqueduct water and environmental remediation .
PFOS is considered to be an “ emerging contaminant ,” and is not yet regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency . Banned in the U . S . in 2000 , the chemical was used in fire-fighting foam , cleaning products and sealants , among other industrial products .
According to EPA Regional
Administrator Judith Enck , PFOS has been associated with negative developmental effects on fetuses and babies , and may contribute to decreased fertility , low birthweight , increased cholesterol levels , thyroid and liver problems .
PFOS was first detected in the city water supply in 2013 and found again in March at 140 parts per trillion and higher . However , levels were found to be at 5,900 parts per trillion at a retention pond at the nearby Stewart Air National Guard Base . The EPA since lowered its health advisory limit for PFOS from 200 parts per trillion to 70 .
At an informational meeting at Mount
The call of duty
Saint Mary College last month , George Heitzman , director of the remedial bureau for DEC Region 3 , said interviews with Air National Guard and airport staff revealed fire foam was used at the base in the past .
“ I have learned some of the critical streams that have come from 150 feet above Washington Lake at the airport are misdesignated , misclassified ,” said Ciaravino , for a decade , at least .
Anytime there is a stream that flows into a drinking water source , he said , it must be classified as a Class-A stream . “ What we ’ ve discovered is that all the streams , including those that relate to the Air National Guard and the others at
City of Newburgh Police Chief Dan Cameron , Sergeant Aaron Weaver and Fire Chief Terry Ahlers were recognized by the Newburgh City Council for their departments ’ service during the recent Newburgh Illuminated Festival . Newburgh Mayor Judy Kennedy is pictured at right .
Judge rules on Brennan defamation lawsuit
Stewart Air Force Base are misclassified as Class-D and Class-C streams ,” Ciaravino said .
The city manager sent a letter to state Department of Environmental Conservation ’ s Kelly Tuturro on July 1 , writing “ of highest priority , in my opinion , is the apparent misclassification of tributaries to Washington Lake , Silver Stream and Brown ’ s Pond as Class-C or D streams .”
The letter goes on to state , “ please be advised that the existing permit incorrectly recites that the receiving waters for the Air National Guard discharges as either Class C or Class D , despite the fact that most , if not all of the discharges which feed into Washington Lake and Silver Stream , constitute the primary source of drinking water supply for our residents in the City of Newburgh .”
Ciaravino said he considered the error to have contributed to the PFOS contamination . “ If it had been properly designated as a Class-A stream , some of the discharge practices may not have been allowed to have occurred ,” he said Monday . “ We have brought this to the State of New York ’ s attention .”
At city council work session last week , acting city Comptroller Katie Mack said the city had so far paid $ 40,000 for remediation-related expenses .
Mack estimated the city would incur approximately $ 400,000 of costs connected to soil and water remediation , and preventative actions related to the water problem . Ciaravino said the city was “ working in a spirit of cooperation ” with the state for reimbursement and management of the water crisis .
Continued from page 1 a domestic dispute in which Brennan was arrested . All
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Ages 4 - 19 All welcome . newburghcalripken . com charges were later dismissed . In a 2013 Mid Hudson Times interview , Brennan ’ s attorney Michael Sussman said , under state law , the mug shot and fingerprints should have been sealed within a period of six months to a year from when charges were dismissed .
In her findings , Judge Walsh explained the “ plaintiff has presented evidence through D ’ Angelo ’ s and Dubaldi ’ s deposition testimony that D ’ Angelo had nothing to do with his campaign and Dubaldi did it all for him and told him that they were going to get him palm cards , pictures and mailers , to which D ’ Angelo responded okay .”
However , Walsh also referred to a 2012 case - LeBlanc v . Skinner – in which the doctrine of “ vicarious liability ” was cited to explain “ the person in a position to exercise some general authority or control over the wrongdoer must do so or bear the consequences .”
A Freedom of Information Law ( FOIL ) request submitted on behalf of the Mid Hudson Times found Dubaldi sent his own FOIL request to the Orange County Sheriff ’ s Office in 2012 , requesting “ all copies of photographs pertaining to the arrest or arrests of Bonnie Brennan .”
Dubaldi , the former New Windsor Republican Committee chairman , has since been charged with three counts of grand larceny for embezzling approximately $ 120,000 in campaign funds while working as a campaign treasurer for Orange County Clerk Annie Rabbit , former county executive Ed Diana and state Sen . Bill Larkin Jr . Dubaldi pleaded guilty to the charges in April .
Brennan seeks $ 1 million in compensatory damages . Sussman said he plans to challenge the dismissals . A pretrial conference is scheduled for July 21 .