Port Washington, Westbury and Greenlawn water districts get $11.4 million to treat contamination, including PFAS

Three Long Island water districts have received state grants to install carbon filtration systems on their wells to remove PFAS compounds and another contaminant which are toxic to human health.

The Port Washington Water District and the Westbury Water District were each awarded $5 million to build granular activated carbon treatment systems on their wells 7 and wells 15 and 18, respectively, to filter out PFOA and PFOS.

PFOA and PFOS are two of the tens of thousands of types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) compounds. They are called "forever chemicals" because they do not break down in the environment or in the body. Ingestion of these pollutants has been linked to decreased fertility, developmental delays, increased risk of prostate, kidney and testicular cancers, and reduced immunity, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

New York State in 2020 established a limit of 10 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water. Suppliers whose wells don’t meet those standards have been installing granular activated carbon systems, or GACs, to remove the chemicals. Last year the EPA established a more stringent standard for PFOA and PFOS, at 4 parts per trillion. Water suppliers have until 2029 to meet the new EPA limit. There are thousands more PFAS chemicals that are still unregulated.

The Greenlawn Water District received $1.4 million for the installation of two GACs at wellhead 6 to treat trichloroethene, a volatile organic compound used as a degreasing solvent and paint stripper. The chemical can interfere with fetal heart development and damages the central nervous system, liver, kidneys and immune system, according to the state Department of Health. It is also listed as a carcinogen by the EPA.

Frank DeMayo, chief plant operator for the Greenlawn Water District, said the system at well 6 is already operational — initially funded through a town bond — and soon they will start constructing a winterized building to house it, as the systems can’t function in extreme cold. "The electricity, the carbon is very expensive, and the maintenance is very costly," DeMayo said. People think "you just turn on the water — that's not the way it works anymore." 

Of the 12 wells in the Port Washington Water District, five already have GACs. "We meet the state standard" at well 7, Paul Prignano, the district's superintendent, said, but the district's own "action level" is half the state's limit. "That gives us a little room," he said. "When we see traces of it, we put it in the design phase" to build a filtration system. He said from design to completion generally takes about two years.    

PFAS compounds have been used in the manufacture of thousands of products over the years, from Teflon pans to waterproof jackets to shampoo. The chemicals seep into groundwater from polluted industrial sites and flow down the drain as people do laundry and wash their hair.

Kate Donovan, Northeast director of environmental health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said at a hearing before the state Assembly in November, "solely focusing on filtration and not addressing upstream manufacturing" is a mistake, and the chemicals should be banned from "nonessential uses" such as cookware, cleaning, dental and menstrual products, textiles and cosmetics. Absent such bans, the public relies on carbon filtration systems, which function like an enormous Brita filter, to remove the chemicals.