Bethpage-Tribune_1990-05-10

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YOUR OFFICIAL HOlMETOl
Serving Bethpage, bland Trees, Plainedge, Sea ford. Old Befhpage ana riainvit^Yv
VOL. 23 NO. 26 Celebrating Our 23rd Year MA¥- 10-MAY 16, 1990 Ceiehratmg Our P3rd Yr^ur 25CENT5
Humors of GrutntmoM Contatnination Pose No Threat
This week is "Water Week"
and once again Bethpage
water has placed in the
finals. On Thursday, May
10th it will be decided
whether Bethpage will go on to the
State finals and we certainly expect
that we will. The Bethpage Water
District should be commended for its
monitoring and care of our town's
water. Mr. Anthony Sabino, Attorney
for the Water District, attributes the
Districts success to the constant
monitoring of water and states that
this monitoring procedure far exceeds
those required by State and County
authorities. He further stated that this
rigid monitoring allows the District to
provide a near zero contamination
level, while not chlorinating the water.
Chlorinating is a process which
commonly adds a smell and taste while
killing bacteria.
At this time it is also appropriate
to address rumors that Grumman is
contaminating Bethpage's water
supply. On Wednesday, the Bethpage
Tribune met with Jack Carroll, Vice
President of Community Relations;
Dean Cassell, Vice President of
Product Integrity and Environmental
Protection and Arthur Gibson, Assist­ant
to the Vice President of Product
Liability and Environmental Protec­tion
to discuss these rumors. Grum­man
doesn't admit liability on the
issue of contaminating Bethpage
wells, however Grumman acknowl­edges
that wells on their Bethpage site
exceed Nassau County Board of
Health standards. The history of this
situation unfolds as follows:
In 1974, the Grumman Corporation
noticed an odor from their water
supply. They immediately notified the
Nassau County Board of Health and
the Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) to examine their
site. It was determined at that time
that their drinking water exceeded the
then State standard of 10 parts per
million. Grumman immediately
stopped using the water for drinking
purposes and began using Bethpage
and Hicksville water for their drinking
supply. Dean Cassell stated **that the
water from the contaminated wells is
used for process water." Process water
is water used in manufacturing, air
conditioning and to create steam.
Cassell stated that the Bethpage Water
District preferred that Grumman
continue to pump the wells and use
the water as process water because this
system in and of itself acts to decon­taminate
the water.
Although no one admits liability,
Mr. Cassell stated that it is possible
this contamination entered the ground
in the 1940's due to Grumman's
manufacturing procedures while it is
also possible that because the aero­space
company pumps such a large
amount of water that these contam-inents
could have been drawn from
neighboring manufacturing plants.
However, Jack Carroll stated "instead
of debating the facts we are dealing
with the issue. There are commonly
accepted methods to deal with such
a problem and we are taking them."
Grumman has been responsibly
dealing with this problem for the past
twenty years by working closely with
the Bethpage Water District, the
Nassau County Board of Health and
the Department of Environmental
Conservation. In the early 1980's the
standards for drinking water were
tightened to provide that contami-nents
in drinking water should not
exceed 10 parts per million. The
standard was further strengthened to
50 parts per billion and today the
standard is 5 parts per billion. "Grum­man
in an effort to return its wells
to these standards erected an aeration
tower 18 months ago. This tower
returns the water to the recharge basin
at a level of 1 part per billion or less."
Gibson stated. "Together with the
continued pumping of the well and
the stripping tower we are confident
Grumman has kept all the contam­ination
within its fences." Mr. Cassell
stated. "The question isn't are we
cleaning the water but rather can we
clean it faster" he concluded.
Presently, as well as in the past
Grumman has been in constant nego­tiations
with the DEC and the Beth­page
Water District and expects the
DEC will be placing test wells on the
site to determine if the water problem
has remained on Grumman property
and if the measures that Grumman
has already taken is satisfiwtory or if
additional meMures must be taken to
contain or cure this problem. Grum­man
will pay for this investigation and
will support it in every way possible.
We also spoke with Water District
spokesman, Anthony Sabino regard­ing
this matter. Mr. Sabino told us
that Plant 6, located on Motor Lane
in Bethpage has two wells. One well
was shut down in 1976 by the Nas.sau
County Board of health and the
second well was closed by the Water
District when it discovered trace tri-chloroethylene
in the water. However,
that well did not exceed the standard
then of 50 parts per billion. Never­theless,
in 1988 the District concluded
that contaminated water was moving
towards the well and it took the
precaution of constructing a stripping
(aeration) tower at a cost of SI.5
million dollars. This tower purifies the
drinking water to a near zero parts
per billion level....which is virtually
perfect drinking water. The water
from this well has been approved by
the Nassau County Board of Health
and is planned to be put back into
(Continued on page 9)
On Tuesday, May % the Nassau County Pottce MeUcopter lamleii in the
King Kullen Shopping Center in Bethpage to come to the aid of a local
shopper, John Fiore, 73 who was having a heart attack* The air r^cue
attempt was aborted and Mr. Fiore was taken to a local h<Mpltal for
treatiront via ambulance Photos by Frank CMt«lli