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Friday, March 17, 2017
Vol. 77, No. 11
JAYHAWKS IN PLAYOFFS
Environmental group constructs water contamination map BY GARY SIMEONE
The Jericho Girls Varsity Basketball team finished the season 13-8 this year, advancing to the playoffs. The girls lost in the second round of the playoffs to a strong Seaford team. Way to go Jayhawks!
Easter Village at Old Bethpage Old Bethpage Village Restoration will host “Easter Village” on Saturday, April 15th from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Visitors will enjoy an Easter Egg Hunt, crafts, bounce houses, scavenger hunt, potato sack races, egg relay races, balloon twisting, face painting, pictures with live bunnies, as well as candy, popcorn, cookies and juice.
Pre-sale tickets are $12 and can be purchased at: www.obvrnassau.com Old Bethpage Village Restoration provides visitors with a unique and wonderful opportunity to step back in time and experience life in a recreated mid-19th Century American village set on more than 200 acres. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00
p.m. Last admission is at 3:00 p.m. Entrance fees are: $12 for adults, $8 for children (5 – 12), seniors and volunteer firefighters. Old Bethpage Village Restoration is located at 1303 Round Swamp Road in Old Bethpage (Exit 48 of the Long Island Expressway). For further information please call Old Bethpage Village Restoration at (516) 572-8400.
One of Long Island’s most outspoken environmental groups, the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, has constructed an online map, detailing how widespread the contamination of Long Island’s water is. The chief contaminant of concern listed on the map is the known carcinogen, 1,4-dioxane. “1,4-Dioxane is an emerging contaminant of concern found in Long Island’s groundwater and drinking water,” said Maureen Dolan Murphy, Executive Programs Manager at the CCE. “It is a Synthetic Organic Compound which is never found in nature.” Murphy said that her office, which is located in Suffolk County, had been continually getting calls about the prevalence of 1,4-dioxane in Long Island’s wells. “We have been repeatedly getting calls from concerned citizens about this after hearing about this particular contaminant in the news,” said Murphy. “We have been working on this issue for over a year.” 1,4-dioxane received public attention in early January when news reports stated that it was present in area drinking water and that a well in Hicksville contained the highest concentration of the man-made chemical in the country. The well was at 33 parts per million which is well above the EPA’s Cancer Risk Guideline for drinking water. The well was shut down shortly after the report was issued. Murphy said that the interactive
map can be found on the environmental groups website, www.citizenscampaign. org. There is a link to the map on the site’s homepage. She said that her team had been working on putting the map together for the last six months. “The public can go on and find out information on the contaminant levels in Long Island’s water districts, the number of wells involved and highest detectable levels within these districts.” The map lists the 58 water districts on Long Island and is color coded to include the wells with the lowest levels, intermediate levels and highest detectable levels of the chemical. There is also a description of where the chemical comes from and how many everyday products contain 1,4-dioxane. Murphy said the chemical which is contained in common items like laundry detergents, shampoos and shower gels made its way into Long Island’s waterways via septic tanks, sewage treatment plants and even superfund sites that do not test for the chemical. She said that the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) in Suffolk is also looking into Laundromats as being possible culprits of leaking the man-made chemical into area water supplies. The CCE is asking the State to set drinking water guidelines for health based standards and is calling on manufacturers to remove the harmful chemical from its products. “We want to remove this chemical from our water before it reaches our tap,” said Murphy.
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