Public Health Assessment for Smithtown Groundwater Contamination (a/k/a Smithtown Ground Water Contamination) Smithtown, Suffolk County, New York. EPA Facility ID: NY0002318889, August 28, 2002

摘要

The Smithtown Groundwater Contamination site is in the Town of Smithtown, encompassed by the Villages of Nissequogue and Head of the Harbor and the Hamlet of St. James in Suffolk County, New York. Groundwater in the area is contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily tetrachloroethene (also known as perchloroethylene, perc, or PCE). Many residents in the area use private wells for their potable water supply. Residents with contaminated private wells were exposed to VOCs in their water for an undetermined amount of time, possibly up to thirty years. Samples collected from private wells between 1996 and 1998 showed that 38 wells were contaminated with PCE above the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL) and the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) drinking water standard of 5 micrograms per liter (micrograms/L), which is about the same as parts per billion or ppb for water. Six of the 38 wells had concentrations of PCE that also exceeded the US EPA's Removal Action Level of 70 micrograms/L. One additional well sampled in 1996 was contaminated with 1,2-dichloropropane in excess of the US EPA MCL and NYS DOH drinking water standard of 5 micrograms/L.