New York state’s Drinking Water Quality Council has issued what it considers to be safe levels for exposure to toxic chemicals including PFOAs and PFOS that have been found in high quantities in some of New York’s drinking water supplies.
Supporters say Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration now needs to quickly take action to implement standards that they say are long overdue.
Governor Cuomo, a Democrat, addressed threats to the drinking water supply when he laid out his agenda for 2019 in a recent speech, saying “there is a growing water crisis in our state.” “New York must stand up, take the lead to clean our water for our children and our children’s children,” Cuomo said.
The council, chaired by state health commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, agreed to set maximum contaminant levels for PFOA and PFOS of 10 parts per trillion.
“We can make sure, that at the end of the day, people aren’t being exposed to unsafe levels of these chemicals anymore.” But Moran says there is still no absolutely safe level of exposure to the toxins, and her organization had been pushing for lower maximum contaminant levels.
Governor Cuomo’s Health Department continued to tell residents that the water was safe.
Moran spent years working on the issue with the Hoosick Falls residents.
Hoosick Falls resident Emily Marpe addressed the Drinking Water Quality Council meeting, holding her infant daughter Ellie in her arms.
Marpe says she and her other children also were found to have high levels of the contaminants, as well as several other toxins, in their blood.
These are scary things.” Marpe says the Council needs to move more rapidly to regulate the dozens of other toxic chemicals that have been found in drinking water.