‘Can’t come soon enough’

referred to Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment or in our bodies.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PFAS leave humans with increased risk for certain types of cancer, asthma and liver damage. These chemicals, along with other contaminants including acetone, benzene and chloromethane, were found in water samples tested within a 128-home stretch, south of a former Grumman site, now owned by the United States Navy.

Now, families living with the contaminated water claim their only recourse is to join Suffolk County’s public water system, a feat currently underway, as long as $12.4 million in funding comes through. The first chunk of funding, approximately $7 million, is slated to come through this month as part of a nationwide infrastructure bill, currently passed in the Senate and awaiting approval from Congress. But for families living with these chemicals in their taps every day, the battle to get hooked up to public water can’t come soon enough. 

“Every day is a stressful day for these community members because they don’t know what they’re drinking,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and an advocate for the families.

Their homes are located on a groundwater contamination site, in Manorville and Calverton, on land just south of property formerly owned by Grumman, now owned by the U.S. Navy. PFAS are found in firefighting foam, among other things, and are often linked to military sites and airports, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.   

Part of the reason these homes are in their current predicament is because they’re on well water, something most of Suffolk County’s 1.4 million residents have been built out of. According to Tim Motz, a spokesperson for Suffolk County Water Authority, between 25,000 and 35,00 Suffolk County residents still use well water.

The $12.4 million project to get these homes built into the public water system will include laying pipes and building the homes into the existing grid.

In the meantime, some of the families drink bottled water, while others continue to drink from their tap, ignoring the potential health risk. Others use at-home filtration systems, which were provided to the residents as a sort of Band-Aid, according to Kelly McClinchy, owner of one of the 128 homes within the Manorville section of the contamination site.

“The filters don’t work the way they’re supposed to,” she said. 

McClinchy spearheaded the residential push to move forward with public water and said it’s the only solution.

“Peace of mind that comes with public water extension—that’s really the only relief we’re going to get,” she said.

Motz said that public water comes with the benefit of frequent testing.

“SCWA water is tested 24/7 and we maintain internal standards for water quality that are more protective than state and federal regulations. We also test for about 250 more chemical constituents than required by the law,” he said. 

For those living in the contamination zone, the road to public water has been excruciatingly slow—and worse, nobody has been willing to pick up the tab.

Back in January 2021, congressman Lee Zeldin made statements taking the Navy to task for its slow-paced response and denial of responsibility.

“Failure to act is not an option, but every step of the way the Navy has dragged their feet, and the more we learn, the worse it gets,” he said.

In his message, Zeldin referred to the county’s testing of 95 of the private wells within the contamination zone—14 of which were found to have PFAS. According to Zeldin, testing should have been the Navy’s responsibility.

“The Navy must immediately remediate the situation and undertake the expense of ensuring these residents have access to clean and safe drinking water,” he said.

But the Navy hasn’t yet taken responsibility, and so the residents are in limbo, waiting on the infrastructure bill to get funding for the public water hookup. Zeldin isn’t alone in his belief that the Navy should take more responsibility, McClinchy thinks so, too.

“The Navy doesn’t want to admit it, but somebody put those chemicals into the ground. No other entity that existed used those compounds,” she said.

McClinchy continued on to say that by not acting fast to help the 128 families, the Navy is skirting its supreme responsibility: to protect citizens.

“It blows my mind, as a resident, that we have to push this hard in a country where this shouldn’t even be a thing. We live in the United States; water is a necessity. The Navy’s main job is to protect the people of this country and they haven’t done that,” she said.

Esposito and McClinchy have worked tirelessly to accomplish all they have so far, including a roundtable Esposito put together nearly two years ago highlighting the urgency of the situation to elected officials, including Zeldin, who they say has been integral in the progress they’ve made, along with U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer.

“Clean water is something many of us take for granted, but in 2021, on Long Island, there are still people without access to clean drinking water. Clean water should be a right and not a privilege,” said Esposito.