Rockland County, located in the Hudson River Valley of New York, has been engaged in an uphill battle with its largest water distributor, Veolia Water NY (formerly known as Suez Water), to combat persistent levels of harmful and toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in its water sources. Commonly known as “forever chemicals,” PFAS are linked to adverse health effects such as kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid diseases, decreased fertility, decreased immune response, decreased birth weight, and skeletal birth defects. Despite the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) statement that there are no safe levels of PFAS contamination, New York State has set an enforceable maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 parts per trillion (ppt) for two PFAS compounds, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), since 2020. This is a considerable improvement from the previous, egregious MCL of 70 ppt. Due to concerns about the consequences of unfettered contamination and negligence on the part of community-serving, private water utilities to transparently communicate a coherent treatment action plan, an open letter was sent to then-Governor Andrew Cuomo, spearheaded by advocacy group Rockland Water Coalition and co-signed by over 80 county organizations. The 2020 letter laid out a clear call to action of 7 central demands:
- Eliminate PFAS chemicals from our water as quickly and comprehensively as possible.
- Keep the public informed about the full extent of the contamination and the clean-up process.
- Test comprehensively and publicly post the results.
- Hold polluters accountable.
- Provide up-to-date information to healthcare providers and free blood testing to vulnerable populations such as pregnant women.
- Regulate all PFAS in drinking water together as a class at the state level.
- Support legislation to ban the production of PFAS in non-essential uses.
In retrospect, the subsequent effects of community pressure on Veolia Water’s efficacy are considerable, though the goals outlined are far from realized. The Coalition’s and the larger community’s efforts have brought clarity to the once jargon-infested yet ubiquitously critical health crisis. The mounting implications of PFAS contamination are unraveling as Veolia and various other organizations are prompted to justify their strategic timelines.
Perhaps most concerning is the apparent scale of PFAS (a family of more than 4,700 human-made chemicals), its rampant state a factor of its widespread cross-industry functional value since its inception in the 1930s. See Image Below Titled PFAS Sources
The most recent data from Dan Shapley, Co-Director of Science-Patrol Program, Hudson Riverkeeper tells us, “about one quarter of the water sources in Rockland County that have been tested exceeds New York States standards in at least one of the tests taken.” See Map and Key Below Titled Rockland County
The progress towards effective treatment is exacerbated by the fact that contamination sources are not obvious, identification requires rigorous, time-consuming testing especially in Rockland where, “there is a very distributed network of wells spread throughout the county that service and provide drinking water to the 300,000 plus folks,” said Sean Mahar, Executive Deputy Commissioner at New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Logically, the search began with the likes of superfund sites, brownfields, inactive landfills, etc. There was a particular focus on areas of increased firefighter foam usage, which is a significant PFOS contributor therefore all too convenient of a contamination medium. The data collected likely informed a lawsuit against manufacturers of certain firefighting foams, as a first attempt at fulfilling the Coalition’s demand number 4, “Hold polluters accountable” and, as Dan Shapley said, “attempt at trying to get more compensation back to the state for what we’ve had to spend to protect New Yorkers and our legal strategy is very much continuing in that regard as we find more of these instances where we have MCL exceedances or detections of these compounds in the environment.”
Aspectual to their treatment action plan, simultaneously underway is Veolia’s implementation of granular activated carbon filters (GAC). While GAC filtration systems are sold as a cure-all on Veolia’s website, (https://nywq.veolianorthamerica.com/acting/) Peter Grevatt, CEO of The Water Research Foundation understands that though they are, “very effective at binding PFAS, they don’t destroy PFAS and so the PFAS then still have to be disposed of in some safe manner…” Carol Walczyk, Vice President of Water Quality and Compliance, Veolia understands this pitfall saying, “destruction technologies is what everybody really wants but those are still in the lab research stage…we would have to do an extended pilot study to prove that it would work.”
Clearly, facing the reality of Rockland’s PFAS contamination requires the community to swallow the extended timeline of its solution; we are actively suffering the unforeseen costs of industrialization and consumerism. Nevertheless, we must continue to advocate alongside organizations like the Rockland Water Coalition which brought accountability to the government and Veolia alike.