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EPA Proposes Plan for Contaminated Ground Water at Smithtown Superfund Site

Release Date: 06/17/2004
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(#04086) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking community input on its plan to connect private wells that are at risk of contamination from the Smithtown Ground Water Contamination Superfund site to municipal water. Some wells that draw from the area's ground water have become contaminated with tetrachloroethylene (PCE) from the site. "We have either connected homes with contaminated wells to a safe source of drinking water or provided individual treatment systems for homes without access to municipal water," said EPA Regional Administrator Jane M. Kenny. "Our goal now is to extend those health protections to all homes with threatened wells. I encourage the public to review and comment on the proposed plan." EPA is monitoring ground water at the site and will continue to monitor to ensure that contamination levels decrease over time. New well construction in the vicinity of the contamination plume will be prohibited. The plan will cost approximately $4 million. The site was listed on the National Priorities List of the nation's most hazardous waste sites in January 1999. EPA conducted an investigation of the nature, extent and source of contamination in theground water. The Agency, through one of its contractors, connected 30 residences to municipal water and installed nine water treatment systems in homes that could not access the municipal supply. EPA has investigated residential areas in the villages of Head of the Harbor and Nissequogue and along Lake Avenue and North Country Road in the hamlet of St. James, but has not found the original source of the contamination. The current contamination in the ground water will disperse and dilute over time. EPA will monitor the ground water at the site to ensure that contamination levels continue to decrease over time. EPA will explain the proposed plan and all of the alternatives at a public meeting at 7:00 p.m. on June 29th at the Smithtown Freshman Campus, 660 Meadow Road, Smithtown, New York. The public comment period began on June 17th and will end on July 16th, 2004. Copies of site-related documents and the proposed cleanup plan are available for public review at: Smithtown Library, 1 North Country Road, (631) 265-2072, and at the EPA's New York office. The Project Manager, Mr. Syed Quadri, will accept written or verbal comments at the meeting, or via mail at: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway, 20th floor New York, N.Y. 10007-1866; telephone: 212-637-4233, or email: quadri.syed@epa.gov.