According to a recent published report, records on inspections done on water tanks on roofs of NYCHA buildings disappeared.
Many of the wooden tanks, which contained drinking water, were contaminated with dead animals, insects and other floating debris.
By law, NYCHA must document and report the condition of its water tanks to the health department.
Some inspections were even whited-out with reports about unsanitary conditions.
The trend in water tanks is so disturbing that those in the water industry say it is common to find unsanitary conditions in public housing water tanks.
The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement that it’s working with NYCHA to improve inspection requirements.
“They always claim to be cleaning the water in that tower,” one resident said in an interview “But they don’t seem to do a very good job.” “While our water tank cleaning and inspections are reliable, we will review the filing of our inspection forms to ensure they reflect this effort accurately,” a NYCHA representative said in a statement.
“The reports on contamination in NYCHA water tanks are appalling,” said Johnson.
Late last month, thousands of residents in Brevoort Houses had to hull water with buckets from a station after they were left without regular running water for 10 days in 900 apartments.
NYCHA workers were reported cleaning a water tank when the water couldn’t be turned back on.

A new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is causing more water concerns for the Fountain, Security-Widefield area.
“Our entire aquifer is destroyed, and if we were to have any more water contamination in any of the surrounding communities, we’re out of drinking water,” Rosenbaum said.
Efforts by the U.S. Air Force and Fountain Utilities in recent months have led to the installation of a new filtration system, allowing groundwater back into the city’s drinking water system, after the air force admitted fault in contaminating the water with firefighting foam.
The report suggests health issues like an increased chance of getting cancer, liver damage, an increased risk for asthma and a decrease in fertility could happen at levels lower than that.
“They’ve just been looking at getting levels below 70 parts per trillion,” Gordon said.
“Now, this study just brings that standard into question.” Rosenbaum said the report also calls into question what level is safe for people to consume the water.
“Now this report came out and said it said it needs to be less than 10 [parts per trillion] ,” Rosenbaum said.
“And we want it less than 10.” A regional ATSDR employee was already scheduled to talk at Thursday’s meeting.
He offered insight on the report, calling the Fountain, Security-Widefield area “Ground Zero” for this research, but the confusion and safety concerns for future generations continue.
The meeting starts at 4:00 p.m. at The Hotel Elegante in Colorado Springs.

Richard Froese South Peace News Reports of fecal coliform contaminating drinking water in the West Prairie River in early June has drawn concern from Big Lakes County.
At its regular meeting July 25, council tabled a decision to partner with the Lesser Slave Watershed Council to hold an information session proposed for Aug. 23.
“I have a lot of questions [to be answered] before we have an information session,” Reeve Ken Matthews says.
Matthews says council plans to meet with the LSWC before discussing the issue further at an upcoming council meeting.
Council and staff are most concerned that results of high fecal coliform counts in the river were not reported immediately to the county by the watershed council.
“When we were informed, the [affected] water had long gone,” Brideau says.
He provided information about the contaminated water in a report to council.
“The Lesser Slave Watershed Council water quality program has indicated higher-than- average fecal coliform counts in the West Prairie River by Banana Belt and the West Prairie River in High Prairie,” reads a report from Brideau.
“Results on June 4 showed record high counts of 810 fecal coliform in Banana Belt and 330 in High Prairie.” Samples on June 18 indicated levels have dropped but are still elevated.
“This is not just a West Prairie River problem, but also an issue for East Prairie River, Driftpile River and Heart River.

BERKELEY, Calif., Aug. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Industrial giant 3M waited decades to reveal troubling information about the toxicity of its chemicals PFOA and PFOS, according to an analysis published last week in Environmental Health.
The chemicals moved out of these products into air, water, and soil, where they never break down.They are now found in the blood of most Americans, including newborns.
Contaminated drinking water linked to use of firefighting foams at military and civilian airports is a major source of human exposure.
Federal rules currently require airports to use PFAS-containing foams.
Critics say it is time to rethink this policy.
"The extreme persistence and mobility of fluorinated foams leads to water contamination, serious human and environmental harm, and liability for airports," according to Arlene Blum Ph.D., Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute.
"Healthy, safe alternatives are in use at airports around the world, but not yet allowed in the U.S." Promising news is that the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 giving civilian airports the freedom to choose firefighting foams without these harmful chemicals.
"We don’t yet know how to clean up the massive contamination from fluorinated firefighting foams," says Tom Bruton Ph.D., Scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute.
This provision, supported by the International Association of Fire Fighters, the Airports Council International North America, and American Association of Airport Executives, passed the House in April 2018 by a vote of 393 to 13.
The Senate is poised to consider the measure later in August.

Fewer than half of those surveyed did testing; of those that did, more than a third found elevated levels.
And a more recent report, “Get the Lead Out,” from the Environment America Research and Policy Center gave Pennsylvania an F for having no requirements that schools address lead in drinking water.
This year, however, school districts across Pennsylvania will have to test for lead in drinking water — or inform the community they will not — according to an amended school code that’s part of the new state budget.
The language in the school code was based on a bill from state Sen. Art Haywood, who started working on the issue after visiting Flint during its water crisis in 2014.
Haywood plans to work with other lawmakers on a mandatory testing measure that would include state funding for the analysis.
Philadelphia City Council passed an ordinance at the end of 2016 that requires the city school district to test for lead in drinking water and require city certification.
“We’re an old state, so we have a lot of old buildings.” Old buildings often have lead pipes and plumbing that carry — and contaminate — drinking water.
“It just shocks every parent I talk to that there are no federal requirements for testing or reporting for lead in drinking water for schools, and no legal threshold for this neurotoxin in the very places our kids go to learn and grow,” she said.
Disclosure needs to be mandatory, Wein said, adding that, nationally, only 59 percent parents were informed of what districts found.
A lot of school districts can’t afford that, but installing lead-certified filters to bring the level down in the water is a really pretty cost-effective solution,” she said.

Five years after Beaver Falls Municipal Authority — a water utility that serves 50,000 Pennsylvanians — discovered elevated levels of a likely human carcinogen, the utility has not taken steps to address the problem, a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette review of water records shows.
Although the utility was aware of these high levels, it did not warn residents of the potential dangers of drinking its water or take steps to reduce dioxane levels, according to multiple employees.
The utility has not tested for dioxane since then — and it has accumulated numerous other water testing violations in recent years.
In 2013 and 2014, Beaver Falls Municipal Authority was one of several water utilities required to test for the unregulated contaminant 1,4-dioxane.
*The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority average was taken from 2013 and 2014 test results.
In 2013, the EPA required all large water utilities — systems serving more than 10,000 people — to test for this substance.
Beaver Falls included the dioxane results in its 2013 drinking water quality report, but did not inform residents that the elevated levels of the chemicals could increase their risk of cancer and other health problems or tell them what the EPA’s dioxane advisory level is.
Because dioxane is “unregulated” — and, as a result, Beaver Falls’ high dioxane level did not constitute an EPA violation — the water authority didn’t have to.
Both Ms. Price, who worked at the plant in 2013, and Mr. Riggio said Mr. Stevenson never spoke to them about the high dioxane result or expressed concerns about the health problems the chemical can cause.
Under Mr. Stevenson’s leadership, the plant did not test for dioxane after 2013 and 2014 — the only years the EPA mandated testing — according to Beaver Falls water testing data, even though water utilities typically have to continue monitoring unregulated contaminants that water tests find in high quantities, according to Ms. Price.

NEWBURGH – The City of Newburgh has filed a federal lawsuit over its contaminated water supply.
The suit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday, against 23 defendants that have manufactured and sold PFAS, or owned and/or operated the Stewart Airport Air National Guard Base and the airport to clean up the contamination in the city watershed and pay for the city’s continued supply of clean water until the cleanup is completed.
The city wants those responsible for the contamination by the chemical once used in firefighting foam at the Air Guard Base, to clean up the watershed.
The rebate issue has been pushed by Mayor Torrance Harvey for several months.
Newburgh is also asking the court to award it punitive damages against the manufacturers.
Over two years ago, the city shut down its main water source, Washington Lake, and has been drawing water from the Catskill Aqueduct with the state picking up the tag.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has installed a granulated activated carbon filtration system for future treatment of Washington Lake water.
But, testing by the state on Washington Lake using a similar carbon filtration system revealed the carbon was less effective for short-chained PFAS.
The state has committed to filtering PFAS to “non-detect” levels, but documents to the city do not yet reflect that commitment.
The Catskill Aqueduct will be shut down for repairs for 10 weeks beginning on October 2, but City Manager Michael Ciaravino said Newburgh will not use Washington Lake during that period “because of the ongoing contamination of the drinking watershed, inadequate treatment, and lack of standards.” Instead, he said the city would use its backup water supply, Brown’s Pond, which has been determined to be safe to drink, but he warned that could run short if the Town of New Windsor also uses Brown’s Pond during the shutdown period.” Among those entities being sued are the US Air Force, State of New York, airport operators and manufacturers of the PFAS products.

Dozens of citizens, government officials, and other community stakeholders on Tuesday attended what was billed as a listening session by the Environmental Protection Agency on the topic of groundwater contamination in the Fountain Valley.
Groundwater in the Fountain, Widefield, and Security area has been contaminated due to decades of seepage of firefighting foam containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS, from Peterson Air Force Base.
The chemicals have been linked to health issues including liver, kidney, and immune system ailments, as well as low birth weight in babies, thyroid problems, and even cancer.
Resident Susan Gordon, who lived and worked at Venetucci Farm for eleven years until its closure due to contamination in 2017, wants the EPA to tighten its restrictions on acceptable levels of PFAS, which is currently at 70 parts per trillion.
"You can do this by adapting an enforceable and protective maximum contaminant level of one part per trillion for all PFA chemicals," Gordon said.
The EPA’s "Community Engagement" sessions are being held in four areas of the country affected by similar contamination, including Exeter, N.H., Horsham, Penn., and Fayetteville, N.C. "These engagements have been very helpful to us in the EPA to understanding the impacts that are happening at a local level and helping us develop actions moving forward for EPA to take and to support states and local governments as they address PFAS," said Jennifer McLain, EPA Deputy Director of the Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water.
"They’re not speaking into a vacuum, they’re actually helping us define how we want to move forward," said EPA Region 8 Administrator Doug Benevento.

Jacksonville, FL – The Navy will be testing for potentially harmful chemicals in drinking water wells on and around Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
The Navy says the PFAS do not absorb well in to the ground, and can therefore make it into groundwater.
While the chemicals are not regulated, the Navy says the EPA is studying whether they should be.
They say surface water and shallow groundwater is not used for drinking, and the investigation of that groundwater contamination is ongoing.
Drinking water for the base is provided through two sources, according to NAS Jax- three deep wells from the Floridan Aquifer, and a connection from JEA.
NAS Jax says those sources are regularly tested, including for some unregulated contaminants like the ones in question here.
NAS Jax says the testing has shown “non-detect” amounts of these chemicals, or levels below the EPA advisory.
The Navy is now requesting permission from nearby private property owners, in order to sample their drinking water wells.
via NAS Jacksonville via NAS Jacksonville Sampling is not needed for homeowners in these areas served by JEA, because JEA testing has already come back as “non-detect”.
If this new well testing finds a potentially unsafe level of these chemicals, NAS Jax says the Navy will provide alternate drinking water to those affected, including bottled water, until a long term solution is implemented.

State Rep. Tom Murt this week asked Pennsylvania Gov.
Tom Wolf this week, state Rep. Tom Murt, R-152, of Upper Moreland, asked the governor to visit local areas impacted by ground and drinking water contamination.
The request comes at a time of renewed interest in perfluorinated chemicals, which were used at area military bases and eventually discovered to have contaminated water supplies, primarily in Warminster, Warrington and Horsham.
None of those towns fall in Murt’s district, but the representative’s request demonstrates concerns cross municipal borders.
Lower levels of the chemicals have also been found in nearby towns that also rely on groundwater, including Hatboro and Upper Dublin.
The presence of the chemicals in Hatboro and Upper Dublin has not yet been definitively tied to the military, which publicly took responsibility for the high levels of the chemicals in Warminster, Warrington, and Horsham.
“Every day, as these contaminants find their way into our local environment, Upper Dublin finds itself in their path because the steps taken to prevent contamination in other areas have not been taken there.” Wolf press secretary J.J. Abbott wrote in an email his office only learned of the request today when asked by the media, and that the governor’s office would review it.
A board within the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is also considering setting its own standard for one PFAS chemical, PFOA.
The move would be unusual, as the state typically relies on the EPA to set standards.
Murt touted the bills again in his letter to Wolf.