Systems installed in Huntington to remove contaminant from existing water wells

The Suffolk County Water Authority on Thursday said it completed installation of eight advanced-water treatment systems in Huntington Town that will remove an emerging contaminant from existing water wells. 

The Advanced-Oxidation Process systems are targeted at removing 1,4-dioxane from authority-supplied water in Huntington. Before the new systems were in place, the agency had to make “significant operational changes” to restrict operation of the impacted wells to reduce public exposure to the contaminants, the authority said in a statement. The new systems return those impacted wells to regular use.

Charles Lefkowitz, chairman of the authority, noted the technology for the filtration systems was developed by SCWA, which he said was first to get state approval for their use. "We are getting these systems online to meet state standards ahead of this important deadline," he said in a statement. "We promise our customers that we will supply them with high-quality drinking water and this announcement shows that we are delivering." 

More than $7 million in funding for the treatment systems came from the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp.’s Water Infrastructure Improvement Act in 2019 and 2021, the authority said.

The state-approved treatment system works by adding a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to the water, which then is passed through an ultraviolet light reactor to destroy 1,4 dioxane molecules. The water also passes through granulated active-carbon filters to remove any trace amounts of the toxin and other volatile organic compounds before moving on to other treatment and delivery processes.

Water authority chief executive Jeffrey Szabo, in a statement, said while the work marks a “great moment” for water quality in Huntington, he also noted the work is “far from over.”

“ … We currently have nine more of these treatment systems under construction throughout Suffolk County and many more in the planning stages,” he said, adding they’d be in production “as soon as possible.”

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, an environmental group, noted that Long Island once had the highest levels of 1,4 dioxane in drinking water in the nation, but now is “at the forefront in the fight to filter our water” from the emerging contaminants.

Suffolk Legis. Stephanie Bontempi applauded the water authority for “doing their homework” in detecting and counteracting the chemical.

The authority “discovered a problem, devised a plan and implemented a viable solution,” she said in a statement. “This is how all business for the public should get done."

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.