Letters: More action, info on 1,4-dioxane needed
Reader letters to Newsday for Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019.
SOURCE:
https://www.newsday.com/opinion/letters/newsday-reader-letters-1.27635041
Bethpage Water District superintendent Mike Boufis describes the water district's pilot water treatment system that incorporates a new technology to remove 1,4-dioxane, an emerging contaminant that has been found in dozens of drinking water wells across Long Island. Photo Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
By Newsday Readers
The most critical obligation of water suppliers across Long Island is to provide clean, safe drinking water to Long Island’s nearly 3 million residents. That is why it is so disturbing to learn that they want to delay filtering for 1,4-dioxane for three years [“$840M to clean LI’s water,” News, Feb. 18]. Yes, the treatment technology is new and expensive, but so are the costs of treating liver and kidney damage, and cancer, which are all health impacts associated with consuming this chemical.
The Citizens Campaign for the Environment and other environmental organizations have successfully lobbied in Albany for state grants to water suppliers to meet this new filtration need. We continue to work for more money for this critical purpose. Rather than ask for a delay, it would be highly preferable for water suppliers to assure the public they will begin filtering drinking water wells that have the highest levels of 1,4-dioxane and will work hard to meet the overwhelming need of providing clean water.
Adrienne Esposito, Farmingdale
Editor’s note: The writer is executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, an advocacy organization.
It seems to me that one of the top priorities in dealing with the toxin 1,4-dioxane — apart from removing it from Long Island water — should be for consumers to stop using products with the chemical. Yet there is no such list with Newsday’s front-page story even though we have known about this contaminant for several years. Why? Are we afraid to hurt businesses? Additionally, we need a list of products that don’t have 1,4-dioxane in them — immediately.
It’s shocking that consumers are still in the dark on the good and the bad products. It’s shameful on your part as our main source of information.
Jane Thomas,
Port Washington