by Doug LaRocque
Tim Vickerson of the NYS Department of Health opened the meeting, held Tuesday February 21, with an update on the Town’s water system. [private]The Carbon Filters went on line January 26, and Vickerson said they began to deliver water with non-detectable levels of PFOA to the storage tank and distribution system. He added “now we understand that there are still residual amounts of PFOA from before in the storage tank and in the water mains, and with time that will decrease.” He said samples taken from the water system on February 2, showed 13 parts per trillion of PFOA, which is below the state’s level of concern, now set at 70 parts per trillion.
He said samples taken from the Town Hall and other sites are expected to show lower levels of PFOA, as more and more of the old water gets flushed out. According to Vickerson, there is a plan to expedite the flushing of the system by using the fire hydrants. That may happen as soon as next week depending on the latest round of results.
The Department of Environmental Conservation released a timeline of progress on determining the level of PFOA contamination at the Petersburgh/Berlin landfill and what remediation efforts have taken place. So far five existing and five new monitoring wells have been drilled and a carbon sock installed on the leachate seep downstream from the dump. They expect to have their Site Characterization Report finished by the end of March. According to DEC, this will go a long way in helping them to determine if the dump should be considered a Super Fund site.
DEC Testing Of Airborne Emissions From Taconic
DEC’s Tom Gentile said “testing of these emissions conducted in December of 2016 confirm the company’s pollution controls are effectively removing PFOA, as well as 12 other substances, from stack emissions to the air. This testing shows PFOAs are being emitted at a rate of less than 4 grams per year. “These trace emissions will not cause any adverse effects on public health or the environment.” Gentile indicated these trace results may be coming from residual components in the flume eliminators, and that Taconic Plastics has been ordered to conduct additional testing to help identify the potential sources of these trace results.
Audience Questions
The meeting was then turned over to the audience, who peppered the panel of State and County officials with queries that ranged from health and environmental complaints to those asking are there documents available for those looking to sell their homes, that prove to any potential buyers that filtrations systems would be continued to be serviced as long as the contamination is present. The answer was yes, that is part of the consent order between the state and Taconic Plastics. Asked if there was a final report on the blood testing done on Petersburgh residents, DOH’s Vickerson says not yet, and he is unaware of any timetable for the final report. Another major concern expressed by those who have private wells that DEC has installed filtration systems on, is how long will the state continue to maintain these systems. Vickerson said the consent order says if there are four consecutive samplings showing the water going into the filters is below 35 parts per trillion, the filters will no longer be maintained. [/private]