At the July 30 meeting of the Town of Oyster Bay, members of the town board approved a resolution allowing six temporary test wells to be installed in Plainview.

Karl J. Leupold, PE, commissioner of the Department of Public Works and Richard T. Betz, deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Works, submitted a memorandum dated July 5 to the Town of Oyster Bay Board, advising board members that the Highway Division received a request from Land, Air, Water Environmental Services, Inc., for permission to install the test wells in Plainview. The locations were listed as four on Express Street and two on Commercial Street, an area known as the Industrial Park.

Land, Air, Water, Environmental Services Inc, provided a Certificate of Insurance with the Town of Oyster Bay named as an additional insured. Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto directed the board to enter into an agreement with Land, Air, Water, Environmental Services Inc.

According to Paul Granger, superintendent of the Plainview Water District, the Water District expressed concerns about the mentioned area and in 1998 put pressure on the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and held community meetings about this area.

"Unfortunately things move slow but DEC is now reacting to our concerns by installing these temporary monitoring wells to try and define the plume a little bit better," said Granger. "While they have limited funding, they are doing something."

Granger explained that these wells are something that the Plainview Water District requested and it is nothing that local residents should be alarmed about. "We continually monitor the quality of our water like we always do," he said. "We collect as much data as possible and if there are any red flags, we work with the health department to address that. Luckily, in good planning, we are okay and we continue to plan on being okay."

The DEC's consultant is investigating this issue, raised by the Plainview Water District and developing facts. "Our testing is continuous - it has to be continuous," said Granger. "We hope to get some answers if we are going to need treatment and what it is going to cost." DEC is currently funding the study and the monitoring wells.