After Long Beach Water Forum, Residents Express Mixed Feelings

LONG BEACH, NY — A day after city, state and county officials insisted that city water is safe, neighbors expressed doubts that the water is really safe to drink and fears that promised improvements to the system might never take place.

Wednesday's public forum on water quality was called after E. coli was found in the water supply, sparking public concern it had caused at least one child's illness. Officials insisted at the meeting that the illness was traceable to food-borne bacteria, not water-borne, and that the strain found in the water supply does not cause illness in humans.

However, residents who attended a public hearing weren't wholly convinced by the explanations offered by local officials.

"We’re aware there's been a problem for years and years," Christina Tisi-Kramer told Patch on Thursday. "Our water has been unsafe for decades."

Tisi-Kramer and others praised state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, Legislator Denise Ford and Assemblywoman Missy Miller, who they believe took their concerns seriously. But Tisi-Kramer was less impressed with local officials.

"The others just gave us lip service," Tisi-Kramer said.

Neighbor Ann Marie Klosky came away from the meeting feeling "apprehensive, yet optimistic."

"I think there were a lot of things that came to light," she said.

Among those in attendance Wednesday were John Mirando, head of the city's public works department, Brad Hutton of the state health department and Lawrence Eisenstein of the county health department. Among those not in attendance: County Executive Laura Curran, Anthony Eramo, the city council president, Chumi Diamond, the council's vice president, and Councilman Scott Mandel. Robert Agostisi, the acting city manager, was not in attendance owing to a death in the family.

Klosky felt the city downplayed the number of complaints it received, and said one of the larger issues bubbling up throughout the E. coli saga was a general lack of communication between the city and the public.

"They aren't communicating what protocol is in place, what they're doing to fix it, what the answers are," she said. "That should've been something they announced from the very beginning."

Resident Keri Carroll said she came away a little satisfied — and a little dissatisfied. She appreciated the recognition that something's wrong with the water and that the panel discussed improving the infrastructure.

"I was very satisfied with the acknowledgment to residents who are older than me and wiser than me that certain parts of our infrastructure are almost 100 years old," she said. "They didn't deny it needed to be replaced."

But that acknowledgment doesn't mean the infrastructure is going to be replaced tomorrow, Carroll said.

"We're not building a treehouse, and I get that," she said.

Carroll walked out of the meeting frustrated that residents still don't know the exact strain of E. coli in the water, and said more people showed symptoms of infection than officials care to admit.

Kaminsky, who helped organize the meeting, said the forum "set the tone" for officials at all levels of government to focus on improvements to the water infrastructure.

Mirando said the forum went fine, that residents got "a lot of good information," and that the city plans create a database to "attack the problem." He lamented that some neighbors still doubt the safety of the water.

"People that think they were harmed by it," he said. "You feel for them, but you can't really get to them. Otherwise, it went very well."

Hutton said he appreciated being invited to participate in the community discussion on protecting public health.

"The Long Beach Water Quality Forum was an opportunity for the Department of Health to listen to the public's concerns regarding the quality of their drinking water and to inform people of the proactive steps that water systems take to ensure the integrity of this invaluable resource," he said.

For Miller, the meeting went about as she expected. The residents demanded answers heading into the meeting, and for the most part, officials were able to provide them. The E. coli scare brought the "eye-opening" water quality issue to the forefront of everyone's mind.

"The bottomline is the infrastructure needs to be replaced," she said.

Messages left with Ford, Diamond and Eramo weren't immediately returned.

Health officials said residual chlorine levels used to disinfect the water supply were lowered this week from 2 parts per million to 1.5 parts per million. That level will be reduced again to 1 part per million within a couple weeks should upcoming tests come back clear.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that County Executive Laura Curran did not attend Wednesday's hearing.

See related:

• Watch Again: Long Beach Forum On Water Quality
• E. Coli In Long Beach Water Doesn't Cause Human Disease: Official
• 'My Eyes Are Burning': Chlorine Plagues Long Beach Neighbors
• Long Beach Water Safe, Chlorine Not Excessive, City Says