Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1) was recently joined by Riverhead Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar, Tim Hopkins from the Suffolk County Water Authority, Adrienne Esposito of Citizens Campaign for the Environment and affected Manorville residents Kelly McClinchy and Ron Martz to demand the Navy take additional action to provide residents who live near the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant in Calverton with clean drinking water.
The use of industrial strength firefighting foam during past training exercises, such as those undertaken at the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, have been known to introduce chemicals such as PFAS into the surrounding ground water.
On December 16, 2020, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services released data from testing of private drinking wells near the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant. This testing found that of 95 private wells sampled, 14 of the wells showed the presence of PFAS.
Both the Suffolk County Water Authority and Town of Riverhead Water District have put forth plans to connect affected neighborhoods to the clean public water system.
Congressman Zeldin, who is a member of the Congressional PFAS Task Force, has continued to urge the testing of all potentially affected wells and the remediation of contaminated drinking water, including a public water system hookup, be undertaken at the expense of the Navy.
“Failure to act is not an option, but every step of the way the Navy has dragged their feet, and the more we learn, the worse it gets,” said Congressman Lee Zeldin. “Just this November, we learned that the Navy knew PFAS contamination was migrating further than the Navy had previously made known, showing significant PFAS contamination at the southern border of the facility. Despite knowing the contamination was spreading farther, they continued to refuse to test private drinking wells outside of a one-mile radius. Suffolk County undertook the responsibility of testing 95 private wells, and the results weren’t shocking to anyone who lives here or who has followed this issue closely. Unfortunately, the results confirmed what we have long suspected, 14 of the wells tested showed the presence of PFAS. No longer able to deny these facts and the reality of this dire situation, the Navy must immediately remediate the situation and undertake the expense of ensuring these residents have access to clean and safe drinking water.”
“The public deserves and needs clean, safe drinking water, and it shouldn’t be this hard to get it. We shouldn’t have to fight this hard,” said Adrienne Esposito of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “People in this community get up every morning and make a pot of coffee or a cup of tea and take a shower and they worry. Is it safe? Am I safe? Is my water contaminated? And that’s wrong.”
“It was three decades ago that the Navy first did their assessment at the Calverton site. Three decades, over 30 years, they have known there was contamination on that site,” said Manorville resident Kelly McClinchy. “Sadly for us with the sampling, our worst fears have been confirmed. We now know for sure that the poisons that were dumped on the land have made it to our wells, and these wells are the only source of drinking water for our homes.”
“Every individual in the United States deserves to have clean water. Safe drinking water without fear of contamination. Evidence of elevated levels of PFAS and PFOA to the east and south of the EPCAL site clearly demonstrates the urgency to continue extensive testing and also indicates the need to expand the parameters of the testing area,” said Riverhead Supervisor Yvette Aguiar.
“The Suffolk County Water Authority has already drawn up plans to provide safe drinking water to everyone in the community. We’ve conveyed those plans to the Navy and we’ve given them cost estimates on how much it will cost to provide public water to everyone in the area,” said Chief Legal Officer for the Suffolk County Water Authority Tim Hopkins.`
New York State Senator Anthony Palumbo said, “The Navy has already agreed to clean up the Bethpage plume and seems highly irresponsible to delay the remediation of the Calverton/Manorville location. I urge the Navy to take swift action and provide the funding necessary to ensure that our residents have immediate access to clean and reliable drinking water.”
