Suffolk County homeowners say shuttered naval weapons site is to blame for polluted well water
MANORVILLE, N.Y. -- Homeowners in one Suffolk County community are pleading for relief.
They say they are bathing, brushing teeth, doing laundry and dishes and cooking with polluted water. They tell CBS2's Jennifer McLogan that a shuttered plant is to blame and the state won't step in to help them.
Ronald Martz, of Manorville, is afraid to drink the water from his private well.
"You're dealing with our lives right here," he said.
For 20 years, he's been trying to get all 64 homes in his area connected to public water due to pollution concerns from the former Grumman naval weapons site where United States Navy jets were fueled and tested.
"Twenty-two out of 64 homes had a cancer case and death in their household, so that's pretty high to me," Martz said.
Tests conducted by the Suffolk heath department in homes a mile from Grumman found per- and polyfluorinated compounds in 15% of private wells. PFAS, or forever chemicals, are linked to reproductive and liver damage, breast and testicular cancers, low birth weight and learning disorders.
"We're constantly faced with this, this apprehension, this nervousness that we are being exposed, and we don't know how much and on which day," Manorville homeowner Kelly McClinchy said.
McClinchy says the underground plume is in constant motion, and the nearby Peconic River could be the next victim.
The Navy says it remains committed to cleaning up its Calverton property but denies responsibility for polluting residential water wells.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation spent the morning with Clare Bennett. PFAS test results from her well exceeded state standards; she asked for a water sample.
"I asked him, oh, can you open up this direct from my well to show what my water looks like?" Bennett said.
It was brown and filled with sediment.
"You know what's on the Thanksgiving dinner menu in Manorville? Turkey, stuffing, gravy and a side order of toxic chemicals," said Adrienne Esposito, with Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
Homeowners say they have turned to activism after applying three times for state grants for hookups to public water and being denied all three times.
"Where is the state? They are MIA," Esposito said.
"You need water to survive, and if you can't use the water because it's a hazard to your health, then what do you do?" Manorville homeowner Toni Pawson said.
They say they are paying the price from decades of jet fuel, chemical and firefighting foam dumping when no one knew how toxic it was.
"You don't want to give us water? Buy us out," Martz said.
CBS2 reached out to the governor's office, the DEC and the Navy and have not heard back.
