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Some East Quogue and Quogue Village residents may be eligable for public drinking water. RACHEL VALDESPINO
Some East Quogue and Quogue residents would be eligable for public water with the new amendment tp the East Quogue Public Drinking Water Infrastructure Improvement Program. COURTESY OF SOUTHAMPTON TOWN
Southampton Town officials are working on a plan to expand the number of homes in East Quogue and Quogue that can connect to public water, after numerous wells in the area were found to be contaminated by harmful chemicals such as PFOS.
About 50 residents who were formerly using well water now are on public water, thanks to the town’s original East Quogue Public Drinking Water Infrastructure Improvement Program. The Suffolk County Health Department estimates that approximately 117 residences that are currently using a private water drinking supply will be eligible to switch to public water under the expanded plan.
A public hearing to amend the program will be held at Southampton Town Hall on Tuesday, December 10.
In 2018, routine testing of a well near the former Southampton Town landfill at the end of Damascus Road, detected concentrations of 11,620 parts per trillion, or ppt, of the contaminants, according to the State Department of Environmental Conservation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warns that concentrations of more than 70 ppt could pose a risk to consumers.
The high concentrations detected in the group of monitoring wells last year prompted the Suffolk County Health Department to begin testing private drinking water wells surrounding the contamination in East Quogue and Quogue. Prior to the Health Department’s testing, the town had supplied homeowners with bottled water. However, the offering stopped after the results were announced.
The additional homeowners with private wells who would be eligible to switch to public water are highlighted on a well survey map created by the health department.
Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said the program began when a certain area of East Quogue showed detections of emerging contaminants, PFOS — chemicals associated with firefighting foam and other possible uses.
“We’ve been using CPF water quality money to put in more water mains and even paying for some people to connect to the public water main if they are in this zone,” said Mr. Schneiderman. “These chemicals are appearing in lots of places. We don’t know the source of the East Quogue contamination, but we are assisting homeowners to get good drinking water.”
Mr. Schneiderman said that for anyone outside the main zone in East Quogue or Quogue that utilizes a private well that tested above the recommended contaminant levels, the town will do its best to try to connect them to public water.
“We can’t automatically help everyone connect, but, we have made a decision for the East Quogue and Quogue area to put this program in place,” he said.
Deputy Supervisor Frank Zappone said the county began investigating the possibility of well water contaminants in April 2018. The town has been in the process of connecting residents in the areas highlighted on the map to public water for the past six months.
“The hamlet of East Quogue is a geopolitical boundary established by the town, but the Suffolk County Health Department has established a map of the areas of investigation for looking into well water drinking supply contamination,” he said. “That map that they created overlaps the Village of Quogue and the hamlet of East Quogue, so it’s the overlap that the resolution addresses.”
The residences in the areas may have higher than the recommended levels of PFOS, perfluorooctanesulfonate, in the water — if they are not already connected to public water.
“This is an effort that has been going on for quite some time and it’s in progress as we speak,” Mr. Zappone said.
