State acknowledges potential harmful effects of Bethpage plume

The state has acknowledged for the first time the potential harmful health effects from the pollution at the former Grumman site in Bethpage.

News 12 Staff

Jun 28, 2019, 9:38 PM

Updated 1,926 days ago

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The state has acknowledged for the first time the potential harmful health effects from the pollution at the former Grumman site in Bethpage.
A report released by the state Department of Health has linked groundwater pollution from the Grumman site to specific potential health effects.
The report states that water coming from Well 6 at Lowell Street and Park Lane contained high levels of TCE. It says people's health was put at risk if residents drank the water before 1976.
News 12 has reported that TCE was used by Northrop Grumman and the Navy to degrease and clean planes. According to the report, that toxic chemical could have resulted in immune or developmental health issues.
Well 6 was shut down in 1976. It was reopened in the 1990s and is currently getting an overhaul.
The report says water used in Bethpage since 1976 is "not expected to harm people's health."
The Bethpage Water District criticized the report in a statement to Newsday.
"This report makes gross assumptions from 45 years ago and unfortunately provides no beneficial information whatsoever," Bethpage Water District Superintendent Mike Boufis said in a statement. "The Bethpage Water District has always been proactive in deploying the necessary technology to protect the health and safety of our residents."
Susan Spinato, a Bethpage resident, says she was diagnosed with breast cancer back in October. She says she can’t help but think that the water had something to do with her health problems.
“It's got to be the water because we all have it,” she says.