A major milestone was celebrated Tuesday in the village of Hoosick Falls, which has grappled with PFOA pollution for nearly a decade.
New York state and local officials broke ground on a new water service line.
After eight years, the village is entering what outgoing state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos calls the “beginning of the end.” Seggos, who has held the position since the PFOA chemicals were discovered in the Rensselaer County community, says the problem changed the way the agency operated.
“It brought us more resources than ever to fix these problems. We’ve built more relationships across the state. If we were to do it differently, I’m not sure we would have arrived at the same place,” he said.
The new line is part of an agreement with the companies blamed for the pollution, Saint-Gobain and Honeywell, and will provide a permanent water source for 4,500 village residents. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Seggos says the 6,800-foot raw water transmission line will run between the newly developed LaCroix Wellfield and the village’s water treatment plant.
Seggos says locating and building new infrastructure in an already-built environment brings its own challenges.
"Many of you probably remember the journey that we all took together trying to find that water supply puncturing holes in the valley traveling as far as Vermont, Massachusetts, looking for ways in which to pipe water into to the village. And it took time," Seggos said. "It wasn't until we were able to locate some clean water in the valley here that didn't have hits of PFAS that was providing enough water supply to maintain the villages needs supply, the village’s needs, that were able to settle on that."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the chemicals are used to make heat-, oils- and grease-resistant products. In 2016, the DEC confirmed the contamination after local grassroots testing, linking it to past manufacturing in the region. Exposure to the chemicals has been linked to ill health effects including cancer.
Since the discovery, granular activated carbon filters (GAC systems) and point-of-entry treatment systems (POET systems) have been installed to filter out the toxins.
Loreen Hackett, a resident and advocate, says the new water service line and source has been a long time coming, but there are still several issues to address.
“People in Hoosick Falls have been exposed enough. We don't need to continue to get more as we know a bioaccumulates,” Hackett said. “So step one, yes address the drinking water because that's a major route, but we're also finding out now whether it's in food or your makeup, or dental floss, or recently, toilet paper and Kleenex. If we don't stop the sources of the contamination, we're never going to make any real headway other than, you know, putting filtration systems on water.”
Village Mayor and long-time resident Rob Allen says final settlement discussions are ongoing with the manufacturers. Allen says the residents who raised the alarm are to thank.
“I hear from so many people in different communities, different walks of life, even attorneys who have become familiar with our story and are just in awe of what was accomplished here,” Allen said. “And without the residents, the residents who organized, who pushed, who knew that the same old same old wasn't going to work for us, without those residents we would not be here without question.”
New York State Health Commissioner James McDonald says holding the manufacturers accountable and protecting public health is due, in part, to the success of state and local partnerships. McDonald says the state remains committed to the health and safety of residents in the village.
“We've been doing some monitoring of the folks who are involved in 2016, 2019 as well. But there's still monitoring going on today,” McDonald said. “For people who just want to have that assurance that their blood is okay, and they need to be monitored. So, we started that in February of 2024, just last month to allow people to have their blood monitored again here.”
PFAS contamination has been found in several New York communities including Petersburgh, Poestenkilll, Newburgh, and Bennington, Vermont.
