Navy report on radium in water irks Bethpage residents

<p>Many Bethpage residents are dismissing a new report put out by the Navy about radium found in Bethpage water supplies.</p>

News 12 Staff

Apr 18, 2018, 10:22 PM

Updated 2,362 days ago

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Many Bethpage residents are dismissing a new report put out by the Navy about radium found in Bethpage water supplies.
The 186-page report claims that radium found in the area of the former Navy site in Bethpage is consistent with naturally occurring levels normally found in the regional aquifer.
Environmentalist Adrienne Esposito says radium does occur naturally, but she says the high levels of it detected in the Bethpage plume are far from natural.
"On Long Island, 90 percent of groundwater samples have no detected radiation," says Esposito.
The report also says that, due to the agricultural history at and in the vicinity of the former Navy site in Bethpage, fertilizers may be a contributing source of radium in groundwater. Esposito calls that statement “simply absurd."
"We have more fertilizers out east and we don't have radioactivity in the groundwater. This is really a thinly veiled disguise for the Navy to not be blamed," she says.
The Navy hosted a meeting at the Bethpage Senior Center to give residents an update on the cleanup effort.