Hicksville Water Forum Planned On Cancer-Causing Chemical

HICKSVILLE, NY — A question-and-answer session is planned later this month in Hicksville on the state of the community's water as the water authority sues major companies in federal court over groundwater contamination.The Hicksville Water District will host a public information meeting Tuesday, Oct. 22, at the Hicksville Community Center on Carl Street. The meeting will start at 7 p.m.

"With so many headlines surrounding the quality of Long Island's drinking water due to emerging contaminants, we want to make sure the Hicksville community is getting the information they need," the district wrote in a Facebook post.

The meeting comes as the water district sues The Dow Chemical Company, Ferro Corporation, Vulcan Materials Company, Procter & Gamble Company and Shell Oil Company.

In a lawsuit filed last week, the water district accused the companies of deliberately making and selling products that contain 1,4-Dioxane to industrial plants and consumers in Nassau County knowing it was toxic and would eventually end up in the groundwater.

Trace amounts of the contaminant were found in cosmetics, detergents and shampoos, as well as paint-strippers, dyes, greases, varnishes and waxes.

The solvent is a clear liquid with a faint, pleasant odor and easily mixes with water, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. It has been found in at least 31 of the 1,689 current or former sites identified by the EPA as having been targeted for long-term federal cleanup efforts.

In water supplies, the contaminant doesn't break down and people can become exposed through residential taps. Depending on how much is ingested and for how long, health effects can range from eye and nose irritation to severe kidney and liver damage or even death. Furthermore, the International Agency for Research on Cancer deemed 1,4-Dioxane as possibly cancer-causing in people. The EPA classifies the chemicals as likely cancer-causing, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers it reasonably expected to be a carcinogen.

The Hicksville Water District argues in its lawsuit that the companies knew or should have known the chemical would significantly contaminate drinking water sources.

"Because of defendants' careless and negligent acts and omissions, 1,4-Dioxane has entered the aquifer from which the district draws potable water and supplies water to its customers," the lawsuit said.

The authority added, "As a direct result of defendants' acts and omissions which are the sole and direct cause of the district's injuries, its production wells have become contaminated with 1,4-Dioxane from the release and/or releases of defendants' toxic and hazardous substances, thereby rendering the potable water unusable and unsafe for human consumption and daily use."

A spokesman for the water authority told Patch on Thursday experts will be on hand to answer questions about how they're responding to the contamination.

"It's heavily focused on 1,4-Dioxane, how the district has been handling detection and contamination," the spokesman said.

The district serves a nearly 8-square-mile area with 14 public drinking water wells that can pump millions of gallons of water a day. The toxic chemical has been detected in 11 of them.