As your Board of Commissioners, we are proud of our record in protecting the quality and quantity of your drinking water in the Plainview Water District. In fact, we are pleased to report to you that our water quality is better than the requirements in state and federal guidelines. To this end, the Plainview Water District maintains constant contact with our state legislators and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to insist that the agency take every proactive measure possible to address potentially hazardous waste sites within our community. The NYSDEC is the state agency that has jurisdiction in investigating and cleaning up hazardous waste sites.

Recent news articles have indicated that the NYSDEC is reopening and expanding its assessment of hazardous waste sites throughout New York State. Several of those sights are in the Plainview Industrial Park (vicinity of Commercial Street and Skyline Drive). The Plainview Water District has been vigilant over the past eight years on this matter by demanding that the NYSDEC construct additional monitoring wells at strategic depths and locations throughout the Plainview Industrial Park area due to groundwater concerns and the potential impact on district supply wells. Research indicates that many of the hazardous waste spills may have occurred well over 20 years ago.

Residents can be assured that the Water District is taking every measure within its jurisdiction to protect public health. This includes the installation of wellhead treatment systems at several of our facilities to ensure the safety of our drinking water supply. As your commissioners, we are taking all of the necessary steps now to prevent this problem from becoming a crisis. In addition we have reached out to the NYSDEC and requested that the agency participate in a water district-sponsored community information meeting.

We will continue to urge that the NYSDEC keep the community updated in this matter. You are also encouraged to contact the NYSDEC Bureau of Environmental Remediation at (518) 402-9621 in order to obtain additional information.

Thank you for your interest and concern. If you have any questions on this or any other issue, please do not hesitate to call us or our superintendent, Paul Granger, at 931-6469.

Plainview Water District Board of Commissioners,

Kevin Langberg, Chairman

Joel Kessler, Treasurer

Edward Shulroff, Secretary