Wells eyed after tainted groundwater found

A handful of residents along East Main Street in Yaphank are getting their wells tested after unusual levels of manganese and radioactivity were found in groundwater south of a large mulching facility.

The pollution appears to mirror contaminants found in groundwater at another site 3 miles away -- Long Island Compost's Great Gardens transfer station on Horseblock Road -- according to Suffolk health officials and county data obtained through the Freedom of Information Law.

The parallels between the two sites have drawn the attention of state and local officials investigating the pollution at Great Gardens. They suspect composting, mulching and similar activities that break down organic waste could impact groundwater.

Walter Dawydiak, acting director of the health department's environmental quality division, said Suffolk is considering an investigation at 275 E. Main St. Landowner Edward Hololob leases space there for topsoil and mulch production.

"Ed lives there, he drinks the water, and we welcome any investigation the Suffolk County Department of Health wants to have," said Hololob's attorney, Daniel O'Brien of Nesconset.

The contaminant levels there are higher than usual for Long Island, but they do not pose a public health risk, state and local officials said.

Concentrations of manganese -- a naturally occurring element that can affect the nervous system at high doses -- were up to 164 times the drinking water standard of 300 parts per billion. Officials said the offensive taste and color manganese lends to water at such levels makes it unlikely residents would drink it.

Radioactivity levels are elevated but within health limits.

Levels of gross alpha, a type of energy released when radioactive elements such as radium decay, at the same monitoring well ranged from about 4.3 to 11.2 picocuries per liter. That's below the state standard of 15 picocuries per liter, but still much higher than is typically found here.

Only about 6 percent of Suffolk groundwater samples taken between 1997 and 2010 had gross alpha detections, according to a health department review of historic water-testing data.

"We're 100,000 times lower than the dose you would get at an X-ray," said Dr. Sal Scarpitta, the health department's radiological emergency officer.

The East Main Street contamination was discovered this summer during a widening investigation into pollution at the 62-acre Great Gardens site, where compost made elsewhere is cured and bagged.

In 2009, puzzling levels of manganese, radioactivity and thallium -- a rare metal used in some medical procedures and to make electronic devices -- showed up in a private well southeast of the site. After a round of tests, investigators say Great Gardens appears to be the primary source of the pollution, but the cause remains unknown.

Some types of radioactivity may be linked to potassium, which is found in fertilizer, officials said. The source of gross alpha levels will be determined by pending state health laboratory tests.

This summer, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Suffolk health department began sampling soil, compost and groundwater at 10 other sites across the county, including the area below 275 E. Main St.

Last year the Town of Brookhaven tried to shut the site down after neighbors complained about noise and truck traffic from the facility, which is in a residentially zoned area.

Officials told residents about the contamination at a civic group meeting last month. The news was alarming, said resident Kathleen Madigan, who has complained about the mulching site and lives west of the spot where the contamination was found.

"I went from being horrified about the poor souls at Horseblock Road to being terrified that they found similar substances just down the street from me," she said.