As chemical plume nears Farmingdale wells, officials say upgrades will keep drinking water clean
Public works and water supply facilities near Ridge Road in Farmingdale. Farmingdale's water remains safe to drink, the mayor said. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
A slow-moving chemical plume that has already reached one of Farmingdale’s three public water supply wells will soon reach the remaining two, but officials say ongoing upgrades to the wells will keep drinking water clean.
The pollution, moving south from the 9½-acre former site of Claremont Polychemical Corp., which operated from the mid-1960s through the ’70s, is affecting the Eastern Parkway well and will in the near future reach the two wells at Ridge Road, said Farmingdale Mayor Ralph Ekstrand.
“Fortunately, those wells are not polluted yet. They’re going to be polluted,” Ekstrand said during an interview Aug. 8 at Village Hall. “We know it’s coming.”
Farmingdale's water remains safe to drink after a nearly $20 million effort to purchase and install upgrades that filter the chemicals, according to Ekstrand. The village completed the enhancements at the first well affected by the plume earlier this summer and the upgrades to the remaining, unaffected wells are expected to be ready by next spring.
“We are confident we’re going to make it in time,” said Village Administrator Brian Harty, referring to the plume’s arrival at those two wells.
It is not clear when the plume will reach the wells at Ridge Road, village officials said. They said the three wells, in total, service about 10,000 people.
The Claremont Polychemical plume is separate from the expansive Grumman plume that is located west of Farmingdale. Groundwater plumes, experts say, generally move north and south.
Claremont Polychemical ran an industrial site in Old Bethpage, near Winding Road and Imperatore Drive, that manufactured pigments for plastics and inks between 1966 and 1980. The company disposed of liquid waste in leaching basins and put sludge in drums and metal tanks, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Nassau County authorities in 1979 found 2,000 to 3,000 drums of inks, resins and organic solvents throughout the site, located about 1½ miles north of Farmingdale. Some of those drums were damaged and released chemicals into the ground, federal officials said.
The EPA used emergency funding in 1989 to begin the cleanup of the site, Newsday reported at the time.
During the federal investigation, shallow groundwater near the site was found to be contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethene, benzene, methylene chloride and xylenes, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The village was notified about the plume in October 2021, and Farmingdale moved to acquire advanced oxidation processing and granulated activated carbon equipment during the winter of 2021 into 2022, village officials said.
The equipment was put into service at the Eastern Parkway well in July, and identical systems are expected to be up and running at the other two wells at Ridge Road in the first quarter of 2025, according to the village.
The DEC said the groundwater contamination from the Claremont Polychemical site is not a continuous plume.
After past and ongoing remediation efforts, the pollution consists of smaller, separated areas of VOCs, ranging from 400 to 3,300 feet wide. They range from 65 feet deep in the areas closest to the former industrial grounds, to around 250 feet deep in areas south of the location.
VOCs are usually human-made chemicals that are part of the process of manufacturing paints and other products, according to the EPA.
Farmingdale borrowed $19.65 million to pay for the equipment upgrades, and Ekstrand said the village is expected to receive about $8.6 million in state and county grants to help cover the cost. He said Farmingdale also applied for additional federal funding.
The village raised water rates around 8% beginning in May and said future rate increases are expected, similar to increases seen elsewhere on Long Island.
As the village prepares for the plume's VOC contamination, the DEC said "emerging contaminants," including PFAS and 1,4 dioxane, have been detected at its monitoring wells, according to the agency's 2024 first quarter report. The federal government announced strict national limits earlier this year on the amount of PFAS, or "forever chemicals," allowed in drinking water. Village officials say the equipment works to filter out those contaminants.
Christopher Gobler, a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, said Farmingdale’s upgrades can effectively target contaminants that are bearing down on its wells.
However, he said that higher pollution concentrations from the plume could cause village officials to more frequently change out components of the infrastructure, like the large column that polluted water is pumped through.
“If the AOP [advanced oxidation processing] is destroying the compound, the granulated activated carbon is actually just absorbing the PFAS out of the water,” Gobler said. “So, if you hit a plume and the concentrations are very high, it just means you’ll need to more frequently change out" pieces of that equipment.
The DEC issues quarterly monitoring reports for the Claremont Polychemical plume. The agency said it has 55 monitoring wells that assess the location of the pollution, including six that are specifically located directly above Farmingdale’s public water systems.
The agency confirmed one of Farmingdale’s wells detected contaminants from the plume but said the pollution is being effectively treated.
A slow-moving chemical plume that has already reached one of Farmingdale’s three public water supply wells will soon reach the remaining two, but officials say ongoing upgrades to the wells will keep drinking water clean.
The pollution, moving south from the 9½-acre former site of Claremont Polychemical Corp., which operated from the mid-1960s through the ’70s, is affecting the Eastern Parkway well and will in the near future reach the two wells at Ridge Road, said Farmingdale Mayor Ralph Ekstrand.
“Fortunately, those wells are not polluted yet. They’re going to be polluted,” Ekstrand said during an interview Aug. 8 at Village Hall. “We know it’s coming.”
Farmingdale's water remains safe to drink after a nearly $20 million effort to purchase and install upgrades that filter the chemicals, according to Ekstrand. The village completed the enhancements at the first well affected by the plume earlier this summer and the upgrades to the remaining, unaffected wells are expected to be ready by next spring.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Farmingdale officials say $20 million in water filtration upgrades will protect the village from a nearby plume of groundwater contamination.
- The pollution comes from the former 9.5-acre Claremont Polychemical site in Old Bethpage.
- Water filtration upgrades at the village's wells will be completed by next spring, officials said.
“We are confident we’re going to make it in time,” said Village Administrator Brian Harty, referring to the plume’s arrival at those two wells.
It is not clear when the plume will reach the wells at Ridge Road, village officials said. They said the three wells, in total, service about 10,000 people.
Tracing plume's origins
The Claremont Polychemical plume is separate from the expansive Grumman plume that is located west of Farmingdale. Groundwater plumes, experts say, generally move north and south.
Claremont Polychemical ran an industrial site in Old Bethpage, near Winding Road and Imperatore Drive, that manufactured pigments for plastics and inks between 1966 and 1980. The company disposed of liquid waste in leaching basins and put sludge in drums and metal tanks, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Nassau County authorities in 1979 found 2,000 to 3,000 drums of inks, resins and organic solvents throughout the site, located about 1½ miles north of Farmingdale. Some of those drums were damaged and released chemicals into the ground, federal officials said.
The EPA used emergency funding in 1989 to begin the cleanup of the site, Newsday reported at the time.
During the federal investigation, shallow groundwater near the site was found to be contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethene, benzene, methylene chloride and xylenes, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The village was notified about the plume in October 2021, and Farmingdale moved to acquire advanced oxidation processing and granulated activated carbon equipment during the winter of 2021 into 2022, village officials said.
The equipment was put into service at the Eastern Parkway well in July, and identical systems are expected to be up and running at the other two wells at Ridge Road in the first quarter of 2025, according to the village.
The DEC said the groundwater contamination from the Claremont Polychemical site is not a continuous plume.
After past and ongoing remediation efforts, the pollution consists of smaller, separated areas of VOCs, ranging from 400 to 3,300 feet wide. They range from 65 feet deep in the areas closest to the former industrial grounds, to around 250 feet deep in areas south of the location.
VOCs are usually human-made chemicals that are part of the process of manufacturing paints and other products, according to the EPA.
Covering the cost
Farmingdale borrowed $19.65 million to pay for the equipment upgrades, and Ekstrand said the village is expected to receive about $8.6 million in state and county grants to help cover the cost. He said Farmingdale also applied for additional federal funding.
The village raised water rates around 8% beginning in May and said future rate increases are expected, similar to increases seen elsewhere on Long Island.
As the village prepares for the plume's VOC contamination, the DEC said "emerging contaminants," including PFAS and 1,4 dioxane, have been detected at its monitoring wells, according to the agency's 2024 first quarter report. The federal government announced strict national limits earlier this year on the amount of PFAS, or "forever chemicals," allowed in drinking water. Village officials say the equipment works to filter out those contaminants.
Christopher Gobler, a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, said Farmingdale’s upgrades can effectively target contaminants that are bearing down on its wells.
However, he said that higher pollution concentrations from the plume could cause village officials to more frequently change out components of the infrastructure, like the large column that polluted water is pumped through.
“If the AOP [advanced oxidation processing] is destroying the compound, the granulated activated carbon is actually just absorbing the PFAS out of the water,” Gobler said. “So, if you hit a plume and the concentrations are very high, it just means you’ll need to more frequently change out" pieces of that equipment.
The DEC issues quarterly monitoring reports for the Claremont Polychemical plume. The agency said it has 55 monitoring wells that assess the location of the pollution, including six that are specifically located directly above Farmingdale’s public water systems.
The agency confirmed one of Farmingdale’s wells detected contaminants from the plume but said the pollution is being effectively treated.
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