The New York State Department of Health has issued the Riverhead Water District a deferral allowing it more time to comply with strict new drinking water standards for certain chemical contaminants.
Testing by the water district found the chemical perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) at well 5-1 above the state’s maximum of 10 parts per trillion. It also detected perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) at the same well, but at levels below the state’s maximum.
The deferral is effective until Aug.25, 2022, the water district said in a notice to its customers. With the deferral, the state agrees to defer enforcement action for the violation, including assessing fines, while the water district agrees to schedule corrective action.
New York State last year adopted strict new drinking water standards for “emerging contaminants,” including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and 1,4 dioxane.
Riverhead is in the process of designing and installing granular activated carbon filters to remove these compounds from well 5-1, the water district said in a notice posted yesterday on the town website.
Due to manganese detected at well 5-1, the water district only operates it when it is blended with well 5-2 on the same site, located on Middle Road east of Northville Turnpike. The blended water does not exceed the state’s standards for PFOS and PFOA, the district said.
“While blending is an acceptable method of treatment for these compounds, the water district will install and operate filters to remove these compounds from well 5-1,” the district said in the statement.
The town board in January 2020 authorized the transfer of $17,500 in the town’s water repair and maintenance fund to pay engineering fees associated with the upgrade of Plant 5 (wells 5-1 and 5-2) to meet anticipated new drinking water standards.
The board in March 2019 had already authorized bonding of up to $6 million for a manganese filtration system at Plant 5. In November 2019 the board authorized the transfer of $250,000 from the bond proceeds to pay engineering fees in connection with the Plant 5 manganese filtration system. Riverhead in November 2018 was awarded a $3 million NYS water quality grant to defray the cost of the manganese filtration system. The project has not yet gone out to bid.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, granular activated carbon filtration systems work well for PFOA and PFOS treatment.
The status of the NYSDOH deferral and the district’s corrective action will be updated quarterly on the RWD website, the district said.
Riverhead is one of 21 Long Island public water suppliers that have been issued deferrals for compliance with the state’s new maximum contaminant levels for PFOS, PFOA and 1,4 dioxane, according to Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
The Suffolk County Water Authority is among the other water suppliers that have been granted deferrals by the state. The Riverhead Water District purchases water from SCWA on on the west side of its service area.
In a February 2021 monthly update posted on its website, SCWA said “all wells that have PFOA or PFOS above the MCL (maximum contaminant level) are either being treated to remove the contaminants, are being blended to below the MCL or have been removed from service until treatment is installed. Wells that are above 1⁄2 of the MCL continue to have their run time managed to maintain the lower levels.”
The water authority said is using “similar strategies” to manage 1,4-dioxane in its system.
“We continue to add blending where we can or have removed wells from service when we have an analytical result that shows an exceedance of the MCL,” SCWA said in February update. “This is manageable while the seasonal water demand is low.”
The water authority said it is using carbon filtration to keep affected wells available for emergency use. Carbon does remove 1,4 dioxane, though “not well,” the water authority said.
According to the most recent water quality report published by the Riverhead Water District — its 2019 report, published in May 2020 — sampling in February 2019 detected a maximum of 0.094 ug/l of 1,4-dioxane.
PFOS/PFOA are synthetic chemicals used for a variety or purposes in many different industrial processes — and consumer products. They have been used to make carpets, clothing, fabrics for furniture, paper packaging for food and other materials such as cookware resistant to water, grease or stains.
PFOA is being phased out, but is still used to make household and commercial products that resist heat and repel stains. PFOS is used in firefighting foam.
1,4-dioxane is used as a stabilizer in certain chlorinated solvents, paint strippers, greases and waxes, according to the EPA. It is a likely human carcinogen.
Riverhead Town has commenced a federal lawsuit against 3M Company, E.I. DuPont de Nemours and the Chemours Company, manufactures of PFOS and PFOA, products containing these chemicals and/or products that degrade to PFOS/PFOA upon release to the environment.
The town is seeking compensation and reimbursement for the cost of treating its municipal water supply system to remove the contaminants.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Feb. 25, says PFOA and PFOS are spreading throughout the aquifer system from which the town draws its drinking water supply, further threatening the Riverhead’s already-contaminated wells and the town’s as-yet uncontaminated wells. The complaint details the effects of the contaminants on human health and the history each company’s response to information about the the threats posed by the chemicals.
Riverhead retained the nationally recognized environmental law firm Sher Elkin of San Francisco, California to bring the action.
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