On April 11, 2018, about 100 families were notified that they could not use their private well water for drinking or cooking due to a contaminant detected in the soil near the Damascus Dump. Since then, the Town has been providing limited water supplies and has been working with the County to schedule the testing of private wells. The Village of East Quogue will work to make sure public water is finally available to everyone in the Village because private wells will need expensive carbon filtration systems and expensive, ongoing testing. The Village would also work with the Town, County and the State to come up with a long term plan for the Damascus Dumping Grounds.
UPDATE: November 6, 2018
At the Town Board’s work session on November 1, 2018, the Town Board seems to doubt the work of the hydrogeologist they hired to understand where the PFOS contaminant is coming from. The Scientist pointed to the Dump owned by the Town. The Town Board pointed to Gabreski Airport. The Weesuck Creek watershed does not include Gabreski Airport. All water recharge from there flows towards Quogue/Westhampton. Newsday covered the story here.
UPDATE: January 23, 2019
The Town has just approved the earmarking of $4M of 2019 CPF funds for water quality improvements including water main and hook ups for East Quogue. This will help everyone have access to County water and fire protection throughout East Quogue. Thanks to the many committee members who spoke at Town meetings to maintain the focus on solving this issue. Thanks to Councilwoman Scalera and Supervisor Schneiderman for helping get this significant issue addressed. Now we will push to get the mains and hook ups as quickly as possible.