Monday marked one year since the City of Newburgh was under a state of emergency due to PFOS drinking water contamination. Elected officials and an environmental group used the occasion to continue their call on the Department of Defense to stop PFOS discharges from Stewart Air National Guard base.
U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, Assemblyman Frank Skartados, Newburgh City Manager Michael Ciaravino and Riverkeeper are calling on the Department of Defense to stop the discharge of PFOS contaminated water from outfalls at the base to Silver Stream and other tributaries to Washington Lake, the city’s main drinking water source. Ciaravino again urges President Trump to order the DoD to install a temporary filtration system to halt the discharge at its source. He also invites Trump to visit Newburgh to see the drinking water threat firsthand. The city draws water from the Catskill Aqueduct while a carbon filtration system is constructed.