Newburgh Water Crisis Won’t Cost City a Penny

NEWBURGH – It could cost millions to resolve the water crisis in Newburgh, but Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney Saturday pledged the cost of an emergency water supply and to remediate the chemical contamination of Washington Lake, its primary water source, won’t cost the city a penny.

Maloney toured the city’s watershed with Congressman Dan Kildee of Flint, Michigan and city officials including City Manager Michael Ciaravino.

Kildee praised Newburgh officials for addressing the discovery of dangerous chemicals in Washington Lake head on in contrast to Flint leaders running away from the issue of tainted water in that city.

In Newburgh, it is believed the problem of PFOS and PFOA in the lake was caused, at least in part, by leakage of the chemical from the Air National Guard Base at nearby Stewart Airport.

Maloney has secured a commitment from the Department of Defense that it has placed the investigation of the Newburgh water issue on the top of its list.

Ciaravino said in the end, it could cost billions to clean up the water supply, pay for water in the interim, and construct purifiers to prevent problems in the future.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has already said it would hire a private company to design, build and install a new system to remove the chemicals from the water source and Albany has also committed to pay for the cost of buying New York City water from its Catskill Aqueduct at a cost of over $250,000 a month.