Read the full article by Allison Dunne (WAMC)
“U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and New York Congressman Mondaire Jones are calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help get to the bottom of PFAS contamination in Rockland County’s drinking water. This comes after PFOA in drinking water exceeded the state’s new limits.
Schumer and fellow Democrat Jones, whose 17th Congressional District includes all of Rockland County, recently wrote to the EPA’s acting administrator, asking the agency to step in and help with water testing, determine the source of the PFOA contamination and ultimately develop a remediation plan. Over the summer, New York state adopted maximum contaminant levels for three chemicals in drinking water. For PFOA and PFOS, the MCLs are 10 parts per trillion each. Rockland’s water has tested at 19 parts per trillion for PFOA, and the federal lawmakers say the situation needs an all-hands-on-deck approach. Dan Shapley agrees.
‘This is among the first communities that we’re aware of in the state to have exceeded the state’s new drinking water standard. So what happens here could, could set precedents, or at least guideposts, for what to expect as other communities test for their water around the state,’ Shapley says. ‘So it is important that we see an aggressive response.’
Shapley is co-director of the Science & Patrol Program at Riverkeeper, which is working with the Rockland Water Coalition to help the community address the situation…”