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Newsday, which is now taking the whole issue of water quality quite seriously — Note the 5 part series that News12 airing Sept 23-27th: What’s In The Water? — has also posted an interactive map/listing of the 254 Superfund sites in Nassau and Suffolk. This useful tool for locating and learning the status of the 254 sites, unfortunately, may require a user subscription to view for non optonline/cablevision/newsday customers.
254 is a big number to get your arms around. Then you start to look at what was / still is in the ground and water around these sites, and it is chilling. PCE, DCE, TCE, TCE, Ethylbenzene, Acetone, Benzene, DCA, Methylene Chloride, Xylene, Vinyl Chloride, Lead, Chromium, Toluene, Cadmium, Nickel, Low-Level Radiation, Heavy Metals, Cesium-137, Strontium-90, Tritium, Mercury, VOCs (volatile organic chemicals), etc and so forth. And again, this is only Nassau and Suffolk. Queens and Brooklyn, technically also part of Long Island, would add a hefty list of Superfund sites to the total.

Each site in the list of 254 has a report attached to it to a state or federal web site noting the current status of the clean up. The good news is that it seems that the vast majority have been remediated. But still one is left wondering how much of these substances is still in our air soil and water, how many more sites not designated for Superfund clean up, contribute to the environmental contamination of Long Island.

 

Environmental clean-up sites on Long IslandFollow all the latest news on Long Island with Newsday. Read top local stories, watch video, and see pictures from all around Nassau and Suffolk counties

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