Probe to map water contamination from old Grumman site

Growing concern over pollution from the former Grumman defense complex in Bethpage has prompted regulators to launch a new, independent investigation to map the extent of underground chemical contamination moving south through groundwater.

The news came Monday at a meeting brokered by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). Among those in the discussion were water district officials who have complained about delays in fixing the problem, state and federal environmental regulators, and Grumman and its defense client, the U.S. Navy.

Schumer called for a more aggressive cleanup of contamination from the complex. He said the Navy and Northrop Grumman Corp. should set up a dedicated fund to pay for treatment of affected district wells, and that ratepayers shouldn't get stuck with the bill.

"Those who made the mess clean it up," Schumer said. "That's what my mother always told me."

Efforts to address contamination from the sprawling complex, where the former Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. built fighter jets for the Navy, have gone on for decades. Regulators have long focused on a large plume of industrial solvents from the main campus.

More recent tests have detected an additional, more concentrated plume originating from parkland that once belonged to the company.

Both plumes contain chemicals classified as potential carcinogens.

Chemicals from the first plume already have been detected in some Bethpage Water District wells, which have been fitted with equipment that strips out solvents before water reaches customers' taps.

Also in its path are the South Farmingdale Water District and private supplier Aqua New York, which are installing similar equipment in anticipation of the plume's impact.

But officials in Bethpage, with two wells south of the second plume, warn that higher contaminant levels coming from the park could shut some wells or require costly upgrades of existing treatment systems.

"The plume is not well understood," said Rich Humann, a vice president at H2M, an engineering firm that works for Bethpage and other affected water districts. "This new source of contamination is of great significance . . . I have dealt with many plumes on Long Island and have never seen this level of contamination this deep."

In 2005 the state ordered Northrop Grumman to investigate contaminated groundwater emanating from Bethpage Community Park, an 18-acre parcel the company had donated to the town of Oyster Bay in 1962.

The investigation, which uncovered the second plume's higher chemical concentrations, has faced repeated delays. A report the company was originally scheduled to file by late 2007 was submitted to the Department of Environmental Conservation last October; the agency has not yet finished its review.

Last week both the DEC and Northrop Grumman said delays were due, in part, to the complicated nature of the larger Grumman pollution, which involves three separate hazardous waste sites and a number of overlapping investigations and cleanup plans. "It's not a matter of foot-dragging, it's a matter of being a very complex situation," said John Swartwout, section chief for the DEC's division of environmental remediation.

Northrop Grumman officials said the firm had been "very proactive" and has spent $94.4 million so far to address contamination from the complex.

Schumer's meeting was intended to get the polluters and regulators to move more quickly. One result: Over the next six months U.S. Geological Survey scientists will remap the plumes to better define their full extent, something district officials say has not been done. Next month a technical committee of all the involved parties will also review existing cleanup plans and recommend to regulators any further steps.

"I think we got more done on this issue in one hour than we have in the last couple of years," said Judith Enck, the federal Environmental Protection Agency's regional administrator.

Still unresolved is whether Northrop Grumman, now based in Los Angeles, and the Navy will go along with the proposed remediation fund.

They have already paid to install treatment systems at several impacted or threatened wells.

But Bethpage Water District said upgrades are needed to deal with the higher chemical concentrations from the second plume; the district has already bonded out $6 million for the improvements, which were not covered by a previous settlement with Northrop Grumman. Schumer said he would urge the company to reimburse the district.

Safeguarding the water

Monday's meeting convened by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) led to developments in the ongoing campaign to protect drinking water from two chemical plumes. Among them:

 Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey will begin a probe to better define the dimensions of the plumes. Officials hope to finish the work in six months.

 A technical committee of public health officials, environmental regulators, water district representatives and the Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy is being established. The committee is to meet next month to review existing cleanup efforts and recommend additional steps.

Schumer asked Northrop Grumman and the Navy to create a dedicated fund to pay for any cleanup costs that water districts absorb so that ratepayers aren't stuck with the bill. Neither the Navy nor Grumman made an immediate commitment to such a fund.