Rockland Residents Urge NY To More Cleanup Of 'Forever Chemicals'

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Members of the Rockland Water Coalition, along with allies and elected officials, held a virtual news conference Monday demanding New York do more to monitor, publicly disclose, and cleanup PFAS or "forever chemicals" in the county’s water supply.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a group of man-made chemicals, including PFOA, PFOS, GenX and many others.

PFAS contamination surfaced in the past decade as a public health concern. The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry cites studies linking PFAS contamination to liver problems, low birth weight, some cancers and other health issues.

"Products such as firefighting foam, water-repellent fabrics, nonstick products, waxes, polishes and some food packaging contain the chemicals. Dubbed 'forever chemicals' for their durability, these substances went unrecognized as pollutants for decades. But now that society is aware that they have contaminated drinking water, the race is on to develop technologies that can eliminate them," the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment said in an article in 2020.

Since 2002, production and use of PFOS and PFOA in the United States have declined, and some blood levels have gone down as well, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

In 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a lifetime health advisory of 70 parts per trillion (PPT) for long-term exposure to PFOA and PFOS in drinking water after officials in New York, New Hampshire and Vermont asked the EPA to acknowledge that PFOA contamination was a national problem that required consistent federal guidelines. That year, New York began clean-up programs in three communities with PFA levels deemed critical including in the Hudson Valley: Newburgh, Hoosick and Petersburgh.

In 2018 New York sued six companies that manufactured firefighting foam found in local contaminated sites including the Stewart Air National Guard Base in neighboring Orange County. SEE: NYS To Sue Firefighting Foam Manufacturers.

In August 2020, New York set a new standard of 10 ppt for PFAs in drinking water.

As a result, water company SUEZ tested its reservoirs and wells across Rockland County and found that while its supply remained well below the federal level of 70 ppt, above the new state standard, some test sites did not meet the new state guidelines.

SUEZ said on its website, "In anticipation that the New York State Department of Health would set a new standard for PFOA and PFOS, as it has done in 2020, SUEZ engineers and water quality experts began designing treatment in 2019. Our proactive approach has given us a full year of laboratory testing of our water supply. The time it will take to fully install treatment is expected to now take less than three years."

New York's effort aren't enough, said the Rockland Water Coalition, which began mobilizing last year over PFAs along with allies including Food & Water Watch, Riverkeeper, NYPIRG and Environmental Advocates of New York.

“Public health is at serious risk in Rockland County, and the Cuomo administration must step up their monitoring efforts and intervene on the public’s behalf,” Eric Weltman, Senior New York Organizer with Food & Water Watch, a member of the Rockland Water Coalition, said in a statement after the press conference. “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."

"When we speak for the youth, we say that there are NO acceptable levels of toxic PFAS in drinking water anywhere," said 13-year-old Blue Rock School Student Anna Palitti. "We demand action from local and government officials to treat this as an emergency."

Rockland Water Coalition members announced they were delivering a petition signed by more than 1,000 residents to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo calling for steps to protect the county from PFA contamination.