A new letter shows that the federal government may have known about possible radioactive contamination from Stewart Air Base contaminating Newburgh’s water since the 1990s.
The 1992 letter is from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to federal Air Force officials asking them to investigate a possible radioactive contamination at Stewart Air Base, just feet away from the city’s water supply at Washington Lake.
The letter contends that drums of chemicals may have been buried underground for years at Stewart and that someone reportedly saw workers in hazmat suits removing the drums from the ground.
The problem is that the city’s drinking reservoir, Washington Lake, is less than a mile away.
Two years ago, the city discovered the reservoir was contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals from firefighting foam used at Stewart years ago.
This prompted officials to build a multimillion-dollar filtration water system.
City Manager Michael Ciaravino told the Mid-Hudson News that with this latest allegation of possible nuclear contamination, he doesn’t have confidence the filtration system will be able to do anything.
He says he also wants answers from military officials who will be in Newburgh Thursday for a forum on the contaminated reservoir.
No one knows why or how the letter was made public, but the timing comes one day before a forum with high-ranking federal officials.

HAYSVILLE, Kan. (KSNW) – More than a year after groundwater contamination in Haysville forced hundreds of homes to hook up to city water, many residents still wonder if they’re safe.
But she has to know, if she too has cancer.
Susan Armstrong has had three unrelated cancers in eight years.
It wasn’t until 2017, six years later, that KDHE used new funding to test about 200 wells in Haysville and determined the plume of contamination actually traveled right toward them.
"Actually, there were only four properties where the contamination was above the EPA-allowed levels," said Jurgens.
Dr. Ablah says it’s unclear how much chemical exposure it takes to cause health problems.
Now, Kristie and Susan are vigilant about their health.
Armstrong just got the all-clear from her doctor that she is cancer-free.
KDHE plans to start cleaning up the contaminated water through a process called "air-stripping" by spring of next year.
"Right now, we are working on all but 22 of those, and those 22 are ones in the Kansas City area where groundwater is not used for drinking water purposes.They truly are your lower risk sites.

CITY OF NEWBURGH – Officials from the U.S. Department of Defense and Air Force will answer questions about their response to Stewart Air National Guard Base’s contamination of Newburgh’s drinking water during a public forum at 1 p.m. on Thursday in the city.
Two DoD officials – Robert McMahon, assistant secretary of defense for sustainment and Maureen Sullivan, deputy assistant secretary of defense (environment) – will be at the forum, which Orange County is hosting at the Newburgh Armory Unity Center, 321 S. William St. John Henderson, assistant secretary of the air force for installations, environment and energy will also be on-hand, along with state and county officials.
Washington Lake, Newburgh’s primary water supply, has been closed since May 2016 due to high levels of the toxic chemical PFOS.
The contamination has been traced to the use of PFOS-containing firefighting foams used at Stewart Air Base.
Following an open-house question-and-answer session, DoD officials will go over the current response to the contamination and planned steps.
“We welcome the DoD and Air Force in their agreement to come to Newburgh and address the concerns of both residents and local officials about the City’s water supply,” county Executive Steve Neuhaus said.

U.S. Army Alaska Public Affairs) The city of Fairbanks has retained two Lower 48 law firms to advise on how to sue the manufacturers of chemical compounds that have contaminated groundwater in several areas around the city.
Mayor Jim Matherly said city officials hired the two law firms to help them develop a strategy on how the city can build a case that the companies found liable for the contamination should compensate the city for the cost of dealing with it.
“They’ll talk to us, talk to our legal department.” Matherly said City Attorney Paul Ewers recommended hiring San Francisco-based SL Environmental Law Group and New York-based Kennedy & Madonna because they’re experienced in litigating contamination cases.
A city spokesperson said the two firms took the case on a contingency-fee basis, so they’d only get paid if they win the case and recover damages.
“The city was using that foam for about 20 years, between 1985 and around 2005,” he said.
The nearly $4 million the city’s paid so far was used to clean up sites and to cover the costs of connecting 44 properties in areas that rely on wells to the local water utility system.
It’s turned up here more than any other city in the state, at least so far.
And the mayor said the city’s asking the state for more help.
The study says PFAS has shown up in the tap water of some 16 million people in 33 states and Puerto Rico.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has extended the public comment period on a proposed, more stringent cleanup level for groundwater contaminated with PFAS.

A Toronto organization called the Lake Ontario Waterkeepers have released a really disturbing report about some of the city’s most popular waterfronts.
According to the report, E. coli levels in Toronto’s Harbour are worse than ever and that’s not all.
READ ALSO: These Ontario Cities Have The Highest Number Of Reported Rat Infestations In The Entire Province On top of the chilling levels of bacteria, the group also reported a concerning number of floatables in the harbour.
Only one of the nine places tested, Outer Harbour Bay, had safe levels of contamination all year.
E. coli is only part of the problem, though.
These include anything from used condoms, tampons, and syringes, and dead fish, rats, and birds.
The group counted at least 900 floatables over their observation period.
The group made a number of recommendations to the city on how they can improve the water quality at the harbour, but the city has a plan of their own.
The city is planning to address sewage overflow, which is largely responsible for water pollution with a $2 billion project.
The Don River and Central Waterfront project is a 25-year program made up of various projects to improve Toronto’s sewage system.

Now, PFAS’s have been found in the groundwater below Cannon Air Force Base—and in wells that were tested off-base.
And so, too, do health impacts from exposure to the chemicals.
And in off-base wells, including those that supply drinking water to dairies, they detected levels ranging from 25 to 1,600 nanograms per liter.
In response to the investigation’s results, in late September the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) requested that the Air Force expand testing, re-sample wells on the base and provide alternative drinking water to people whose wells are contaminated.
Then, on October 16, NMED, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) and the New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA) announced to the larger public that the Air Force had informed them of contaminated wells on and off the base.
In their announcement, the three state agencies said that until further testing confirms otherwise, all residents and businesses with private wells within a four-mile radius of the entire Cannon Air Force Base property should use bottled water.
There are more than 150 dairies in New Mexico, most of which are in southeastern New Mexico.
That means the Air Force must report all its test results to the state.
“Residents deserve an action plan that puts the health and safety of the community first.” He said he’ll continue working with his congressional colleagues to get answers from the Defense Department and Cannon Air Force Base officials, “to ensure that we have a complete assessment of the impact of the contaminated water sources.” Luján added that his office will continue offering assistance to local governments.
Groundwater is an important resource in New Mexico, particularly in eastern New Mexico where Roosevelt and Curry counties rely entirely on groundwater for drinking water, irrigation and municipal and industrial supplies.

by Amanda Fencl, Rich Pauloo, Alvar Escriva-Bou, Hervé Guillon During the 2012-2016 drought, the state received more than 2,500 domestic well failure reports, the majority of which were in the Central Valley (DWR 2018).
Our submission was driven by open data from public agencies and assessed the vulnerability of domestic wells to failure in the Central Valley.
Which domestic wells will be vulnerable in the next drought?
Due to already low groundwater levels, a simulated a 4-year-long-drought starting in January 2018 would result in more than 4,000 domestic well failures in the Central Valley alone, nearly twice as many well failures compared to 2012-2016.
About 1.5 times more well failures were reported by households in disadvantaged and severely disadvantaged communities (DAC + SDAC together) compared to those at or above the Median Household Income (MHI+).
Results from the spatial model of well failure were used to train an ensemble machine learning classifier on 56 climatic and geologic variables to predict present day well failure across the Central Valley and assess the climatic controls on domestic well failures.
We can’t avoid another drought in California.
Our hope is to show local and state decision-makers what is possible with existing data and methodologies to proactively address drinking water issues in California’s rural communities.
Dr. Hervé Guillon is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the UC Davis Water Resources Management Group and Dr. Alvar Escriva-Bou is a Research Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.
Arnold, Escriva-Bou, and Lund (2017) San Joaquin Valley Water Supplies – Unavoidable Variability and Uncertainty.

So, just how big of an issue is illegal dumping in southern Nevada?
From paint cans to laundry detergent, shattered tiles, motor oil, even a microwave litter the desert in the southwest part of the valley near Mountain’s Edge.
We’ve got construction demolition waste, a variety of things.
Every year, more than 1,400 illegal dumping sites are reported to the health district, a small fraction of what’s really out in the desert.
"During a big storm event, water comes rushing through here and carries whatever is with it down to Lake Mead, including household waste and garbage."
Contamination that costs millions to clean up from the water and landscape.
These sites also bring out rodents, insects, disease, and other environmental toxins and often bring it all a little too close to homes.
It’s going to contaminate our lake, it’s an eyesore, it’s a nuisance.
We don’t want to live in a giant trash heap," Chaney said.
If you already have garbage service you can take your trash, your oversized items, anything that won’t fit in your trash can to one of the transfer stations.

PARCHMENT, Mich. — Work begins Monday to figure out what caused high levels of PFAS in Parchment.
Georgia-Pacific, which has ties to the old Parchment Paper Mill, will start their investigation alongside the state to track down exactly what caused the water contamination in Parchment’s drinking water wells.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) will oversee Georgia-Pacific’s project in West Michigan.
The joint investigation aims to figure out the complete extent of contamination as well as the sources of PFAS impacting private and public water supplies in Parchment and areas of Cooper Township.
Pulp and paper company, Georgia-Pacific, never owned or operated the paper mill but has ties to the owner.
The mill is suspected as the source of the water contamination.
Georgia-Pacific will pay for the entire investigation, which will be monitored by the MDEQ.
Their plans include: Installing monitoring wells to track any kind of contamination Collect and analyze groundwater samples from both private and public sources Create an extensive report analyzing the PFAS contamination Read More: Governor wants more planning for potential PFAs water problems In the meantime, Georgia-Pacific and 3M face a class-action lawsuit from Parchment residents who blame them for the PFAS contamination.

In a big victory for grassroots activism in Macedonia, a new water supply system was built in the southern municipality of Gevgelija, after years of struggle by local activists who kept warning their drinking water is poisoned with arsenic.
The system will provide drinking water for the 19,500 inhabitants in the surrounding areas, local news site Gevgelijanet.com reported.
This development vindicated “Arsena” — a group of local activists that had been trying to warn the public about the water’s toxicity for several years.
Even though the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Macedonia determined in 2012 that the water was dangerously toxic, the political authorities refused to admit that there was any problem with the water supply.
Arsena conducted additional analyses of the tap water in several different labs in 2014 and attempted to publish the results.
When the reporters of national media came to the “business” event, the activists presented them with plastic bottles of water from Gevgelija water supply.
Only one national level TV reported about this event, but that was enough for the citizens of Gevgelija to learn about it, and make a rush on the local shops to buy bottled water.
However, the construction site remained empty for the next three years.
The same year, after local elections, the municipal government changed.
Solving the water supply problem was one of the main goals for the new administration, and the facility was finished by November 2018.