A Wainscott homeowner is suing several chemical manufacturers and East Hampton Town over contamination of private wells near the East Hampton Airport.
The town had permitted local fire departments to use the East Hampton Airport for drills using aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), which is believed to contain perfluorooctanoic acid and/or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or PFOA and PFOS, according to the suit.
“For years these residents have been drinking water laced with dangerous chemicals,” states the complaint filed by attorney Daniel Osborn in New York State Supreme Court on March 21.
“These innocent bystanders had no way to know that they were consuming water with PFOS and PFOA until the contamination was disclosed to them by East Hampton Town officials in or about October 2017.” Exposure to the perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) can affect the immune system and fetal health and development, as well as cause liver damage, cancer and thyroid problems, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said.
The 3M Company, Angus Fire, The Ansul Company, Buckeye Fire Protection Company, Chemguard and National Foam are named as defendants, as well as the town.
East Hampton Town Attorney Michael Sendlenski and a Chemguard spokesman declined to comment due to the pending litigation.
Representatives from the other firms did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the town is offering bottled water to residents in the affected area and has discussed remediation to the problem.
During a March 6 town board work session, Councilman Jeff Bragman called for the town to immediately install point of entry water filtration systems at the affected properties.
The Hampton Bays Water District filed a similar lawsuit against some of those same companies last month after three of the 11 wells in the district were found to be contaminated with PFCs.