Supervisor: beware of misleading water notices

Borrelli’s Italian restaurant owner Frank Borrelli, left, had a water toast inside his home with Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Gary Hudes to signify that the town’s drinking water is safe.

Courtesy the Town of Hempstead

Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray is warning East Meadow residents to be wary of a yellow flier being placed on front doors, directing residents to fill a vial with water, and place it on their doorstep to be picked up for testing. The flier, she said, has been distributed by a private company called New York Water Solutions, and is not affiliated with the Town of Hempstead.

“We have had a number of residents come into the Town of Hempstead water department thinking that this was an official governmental mailing,” said Murray, who was joined by Councilman Gary Hudes during a press conference on Feb. 28 inside the house of Borrelli’s Italian Restaurant owner Frank Borrelli on Seventh Street. “It could not be farther from the truth.”

Murray said she is concerned the flier might lead people to believe their drinking water is unsafe. “We have the safest water,” Murray said. “It meets or exceeds all federal and state standards. The Town of Hempstead issues a water testing report to every resident annually.”

She said that town personnel called New York Water Solutions to learn more about them. “A company representative said New York Water Solutions was a water testing company,” Murray said, “and that they offer water filter systems.”

The response, Murray said, led her to believe that the flier is purely a marketing scheme. Indeed, Murray and Hudes sent a letter to New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman last week, asking his office to investigate the operations of New York Water Solutions.

Borrelli said he noticed the flier on his door one day upon arriving home from work. Before he proceeded to fill the vial — which is included with the mailing — he read the fine print at the bottom of the flier, which states ”NYWS is not affiliated with the city health or water department.”

“I look down the block and I see everybody has it on their front door,” Borrelli said. “So I take this, and rip it up and throw it in the garbage.”