Weik Bill Would Help Ensure Safe Drinking Water For Suffolk Homeowners

Press release from the Office of Senator Alexis Weik:

May 23, 2022

A bill that would make it more affordable for homeowners to test their private water wells and help protect their families from exposure to potentially dangerous chemicals has been introduced by Senator Alexis Weik (R-C, Sayville).

The measure, S.8878, was a response to a Newsday report that found alarming levels of so-called “forever chemicals” like PFAS in some of the thousands of private wells that serve more than 200,000 Suffolk County residents.

“’Forever chemicals’ like PFAS and other pollutants from our industrial and commercial past have seeped into water supplies across New York and are the reason behind more stringent water quality standards for public water supplies,” said Senator Weik. “But hundreds of thousands of Suffolk residents—and a smaller number in Nassau—don’t drink water from public supplies, and instead rely on private wells that draw from the same underground source, but aren’t subject to those standards.

“These chemicals are odorless and tasteless, but they can pose a serious threat to our health. By encouraging testing of private wells, New Yorkers can make informed decisions that can protect their family’s health.”

According to one study cited by Newsday, some 200 million Americans are drinking water that contains “forever chemicals,” so-called because they do not break down in the natural environment.

Most counties around the state, including Suffolk, lack capacity to test private wells, leaving that responsibility to individual homeowners. Under Senator Weik’s bill, homeowners could use private labs to test their water and deduct the cost of the tests, up to $600, every three years. County health officials would be notified of testing results so that they could develop plans to deal with emerging pollution threats.

Newsday found that more than 200 private wells tested by Suffolk County between 2016 and 2022 were contaminated by chemicals in amounts exceeding New York’s state safety standards.

A new law recently signed by the Governor directed the state Health Commissioner to set standards for an expanded list of emerging chemical contaminants in public drinking water supplies but the state doesn’t set similar standards for private wells. Senator Weik supported the emerging contaminants law.

Senator Weik’s water testing bill was sent to the Senate’s Budget & Revenue Committee.

This press release was produced by Office of Senator Alexis Weik. The views expressed here are the author's own.