Riverhead Planning Board chairman Stan Carey has been appointed to serve on the new 12-member New York State Drinking Water Quality Council by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The newly established council will have the responsibility of advising the state’s health commissioner on all issues involving water quality, with a specific focus on recommending safe levels of currently unregulated contaminates in drinking water, the governor said in a press release.
Carey, the current Chairman of the Long Island Water Conference, is the superintendent of the Massapequa Water District, a position he has held for seven years. He has 30 years of experience working with public water supply organizations, including the Riverhead Water District and the Suffolk County Water Authority.
He is one of eight people appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the new 12-member council, which will be chaired by N.Y. State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker. The State Senate and Assembly appointed the other four members.
Carey said he was honored by the appointment. “I look forward to using my years of expertise in the water industry to contribute to the council in a significant way and put forward recommendations that will improve water quality throughout the state,” he said in a press release.
The council’s initial priority is working to develop standards for assessing maximum contaminant levels for contaminants 1,4-dioxane, perfluorooctanoic and perfluorooctanesulfonic, the governor said.
It will meet for the first time on Monday, Oct. 2 at 10 a.m. at Stony Brook University, with a second meeting in the Capital Region later this year.
Cuomo, in announcing the appointments, said the state is “once again stepping up as the federal government continues to ignore its duty to provide clear guidance to protect drinking water quality.”
The council’s “array of experts” will use best available science to provide science-based recommendations for regulations to assure that good quality drinking water remains available to all New Yorkers, Cuomo said. “Water quality is a national issue that requires consistent national standards, but New York can no longer afford to wait,” he said.
Carey, a Baiting Hollow resident, is actively involved in the New York section of the American Water Works Association and serves as the chairman of the Long Island Commission for Aquifer Protection.
He has an applied science degree in public water supply and maintains certifications as a grade-1b water treatment and distribution system operator issued by the New York State Department of Health.
Carey was appointed by the Riverhead Town Board to the town planning board in 2014 and has served as its chairman since January 2016.
In addition to his professional experience, Carey has been an active volunteer firefighter in the Riverhead Fire Department for the past 28 years.
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