Pollution May Cause Scant Summer Water
A well that contributed 13 percent of Montauk's public water supply has been out of use since November, when the Suffolk County Water Authority found it was contaminated by a solvent commonly added to gasoline to boost octane. The Montauk Firehouse has been targeted as the culprit.
The removal of the well as a source of public water is considered significant, especially with peak summer demand for water not far off. The Star learned of the problem indirectly this week; neither the authority, nor the State Department of Environmental Conservation, nor the Fire Department had made the finding public.
The well, on Edgemere Road adjacent to the firehouse, is one of 10 owned by the authority in Montauk. While its yield undoubtedly blended with water from other nearby wells, which have not tested as contaminated, Laura Mansi, a spokeswoman for the Suffolk Water Authority, said the contaminated water had been supplied only within the immediate neighborhood.
Real Problems Feared
The utility has had difficulty in recent years meeting summer demand for water in Montauk, and has put a strict conservation program in place for the last two seasons as a result. The same program is to be instituted this summer.
According to Ms. Mansi, it will be up to the State Department of Environmental Conservation to decide what needs to be done. "But whatever they decide," she said, "we're sure going to need that well for the summer. If we can't get it cooking again, or we can't get [new] wells on North Flamingo in time, then we're going to have real problems. Not just in supplying drinking water, but for fire protection too," said Ms. Mansi.
Since June
The authority tests each of its wells twice a year for 192 different substances and more often if there is a problem, said Ms. Mansi.
In June, tests started picking up traces of methyl tert-butyl ether, M.T.B.E. The tests were accelerated to once a month, and the traces increased to measurable amounts by August.
By the first week of November, when samples were being taken weekly, the ratio reached 47 parts of M.T.B.E. per billion parts of water, according to Karen Gomez, an oil- spill engineer with the D.E.C.
The state's maximum allowable standard is 50 parts per billion. The well was shut down on Nov. 8, when the 47-p.p.b. reading appeared, and has not been in service since.
A Carcinogen
M.T.B.E. is considered carcinogenic, but since it appeared in quantities that were lower than the state maximum for safe drinking water, it was unlikely to have posed a health threat, said Ms. Mansi.
The contamination in the authority's well was reported to the D.E.C. the same day the well was taken out of use, it was reported. The subsequent D.E.C. investigation tracked soil and groundwater samples right "to the Fire District's boundary line," and left no doubt as to the source, declared Ms. Gomez.
"We're confident that remediating this will be the Fire District's responsibility," she said, adding that the next steps were for the district to pinpoint the exact source of the chemical and then to come up with a plan for plugging the leak and cleaning up the groundwater.
"The way the state works, you're guilty until proven innocent," said Larry Franzone, a longtime Fire Commissioner.
Mr. Franzone said the district's inLarry Franzone, a longtime Fire Commissioner.
Mr. Franzone said the district's insurance company had hired an environmental cleanup firm, Land Tech Remedial of Farmingdale, to examine the site. He added that district officials were not yet convinced their property was the source.
The D.E.C. gave the district a few more weeks to make a plan to do the cleanup itself or to opt for the D.E.C. to do it at district expense. Mr. Franzone said the district would meet the deadline.
Mr. Franzone said the Commissioners would meet again on Tuesday to decide their next move.
Underground Plume
Many houses and businesses in Montauk have private wells, whose safety is regulated by the County Health Department. There appear to be none in what might be the anticipated path of the underground plume of contamination, said Robert Farmer, an engineer with the County Drinking Water Bureau.
According to Mr. Farmer, groundwater typically moves toward the nearest body of water. The firehouse and the contaminated well are side-by-side on the east side of Edgemere Road, and the Blue Marlin restaurant, Fernando's Landscaping, and Rough Riders condominiums are between them and Fort Pond Bay. All have public water.
"The authority has a policy. . . . If they damage our well field, we do not absorb the cost," said Michael LoGrande, the authority's chairman. He added that the authority would seek a speedy resolution.
Declared Tight
The Fire District expanded its firehouse and installed new underground fuel tanks for gasoline and diesel in 1988, at the Edgemere Road entrance to the firehouse.
Mr. Franzone said the pair of 1,000-gallon tanks are double-walled, made of fiberglass and steel, and have an electronic alarm system to detect leaks. No alarms have sounded, he said.
The tanks were built and installed according to County Health Department specifications. Both were tested in January of 1995 and were declared tight as drums, he said.
Fire Chief Thomas Grenci Jr. explained that fire trucks and ambulances are kept full of gas at all times. The district installed its own gas pumps in case the power went out elsewhere in Montauk and the retail gas stations were unable to pump. The firehouse also has its own generators.
"We're usually in the business of cleaning up spills, not causing them," sighed the fire chief.
Quick Solution Sought
All that adds up to a mystery, and district officials and their consultants have been looking around the neighborhood for another culprit.
Old underground tanks once used by a Shell gas station across Edgemere Road are still there, though the property is now a nursery and garden center. The D.E.C. ruled out that possibility, however, telling the Commissioners that M.T.B.E. was first used to boost high-test gas in 1986, after the Shell station closed.
Among the possible ways to get the well in service again are installing an activated charcoal filter on it or pumping the contaminated groundwater out, stripping it of any chemicals, and recharging it back into the ground somewhere else.
Other Methods
Ms. Mansi said there were additional remediation methods available, including replacing that well, which is one of the deepest in Montauk, by expanding a well field on nearby North Flamingo Road with three additional shallow wells.
It could also be possible to "blow off" the Edgemere well, meaning pumping a good deal of water through it and taking further samples to see if the chemical plume had moved on. In that case, though, it was possible the plume would appear at another of the authority's wells.
Any of those methods could be expensive. Ms. Mansi said the well, which can pump up to 200,000 gallons per day, would use up the charcoal as fast as it could be replaced.
Like Sam's?
The stripping operation, based on the same idea as one being installed at Sam's Auto on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton, could cost considerably more than $100,000. The one at Sam's is expected to discharge 70,000 gallons of "cleaned" water per day into nearby Soak Hides Dreen.
"This could be like Sam's, but it could also be different because this impacts the drinking water supply," said Ms. Gomez, suggesting the cleanup may be more intense.
She said it was unclear this week whether the D.E.C. would take any sort of punitive action against the Fire District. "Intent and neglect play a part, but we also look at whether there is cooperation," she said. So far, she indicated, the district had been cooperative.