By Nick Buglione
Speaking before dozens of residents during a Feb. 26 public information meeting at McVey Elementary School, representatives from the Department of Environmental Conservation and state Department of Health stressed that, in the meantime, adults and children are in no immediate danger.
The water is safe to drink and the air is safe to breathe, they said, even though small traces of the chemicals have been found in one East Meadow well and in the air of two homes and two businesses near the cleaners.
"The water in this area is safe to drink for adults and children," said Mark Lowery, DEC citizen participation specialist. "The air is safe to breathe for adults and children."
A representative from Impact Environmental, the company contracted by Lowden Properties to investigate and clean up the chemical plume emanating from Melody Cleaners, said they are moving into the second phase of their project. Lowden Properties volunteered in 2000 to look into the contamination, though all work is being supervised by the DEC.
During the next phase there will be more tests on the ground water and soil, to determine just how far and deep the plume has spread from the source. "The extent we know so far is as far south as Lincoln Avenue," Lowery said. "Whether it goes any farther will be determined in the next phase of the investigation."
A well survey is also going to be conducted to see if any area residents are drawing water from unknown private sources.
"[Once the investigation is completed,] there will be a formal report prepared by Impact Environmental," said John Swartwout, the DEC's project manager.
"There will be a fact sheet issued when a remedy is selected," he continued. "Part of that process is a public notice and a public comment period."
Another hearing, like the one at McVey, will most likely be held at that point, Swartwout said. The investigative work could be finished sometime this summer, with a proposed cleanup plan ready by fall.
So far, 18 ground water samples have been taken from sites between the shopping center where Melody Cleaners is located and Lincoln Avenue, near McVey Elementary. Fourteen of those samples tested positive for contaminants, namely tetrachloroethylene, a solvent commonly used in the dry cleaning process (see map).
DEC officials stressed to residents, however, that the ground water examined is not the same water they drink from local wells. Only trace levels of chemicals have been found in one nearby Town of Hempstead well, far below the standards that would require water treatment.
Meanwhile, the state Department of Health has also studied air samples from 10 nearby homes and business. Two residences and two stores showed levels higher than 100 micrograms of tetrachloroethylene per cubic meter of air, said Ian Ushe, of the state Department of Health.
But that guideline, according to a health department fact sheet circulated during the meeting, does not separate air levels that cause health effects and those that do not. Over 10 times the cutoff amount would have to be present before humans experience any impact, the department maintains. Exposure to high levels of tetrachloroethylene can lead to kidney, liver, and nervous system damage and possibly cause cancer.
Ushe also noted that five air samples were taken inside McVey Elementary, and results showed that levels of the chemical were within the normal range.
"The air you breathe in this school is not contaminated," Ushe told the throng. It had been feared that the plume, which is slowly moving south, would eventually reach McVey.
Dr. Robert Dillon, superintendent of East Meadow schools, has asked the health department to continue monitoring the school's air quality.
Despite attempts to allay residents' fears, some still expressed deep concern for their health following the meeting.
"I was not impressed with the performance," said Ron Lupski, who lives in a Front Street home, one of the two where contamination was discovered in the air. "My feeling is that these people don't have a handle on the situation."
Ottavia Daquino, a 40-year East Meadow resident who owns a hair salon not far from Melody Cleaners, said she's not so sure they do either.
"I wanted to find out what's being affected, whether it's the water or the air," said Daquino. "I'm still concerned. I know our elected officials are doing their job, but I'm concerned about what's going on in the area."
With a child enrolled in McVey and house on Prospect Avenue, Melinda Camastro has her worries as well.
"I was upset when I learned about the contamination," she said, adding that she's skeptical if the situation will ever be remedied. "I don't anticipate that it's ever going to be cleaned up and that's what concerns me."
The plume was discovered after an environmental assessment of Melody Cleaners in 1999. It was later determined that the chemicals had gotten into the ground via the cleaners' old on-site cesspools, meaning that the contamination started sometime before the site was hooked up to the municipal sewer system in 1982.
Since a number of people have owned the cleaners over the decades, it's impossible to pinpoint just who was responsible for the situation. So, legal action is not an option.
Impact Environmental removed 500 tons of tainted soil from three of the site's cesspools in 2000, cutting off the source of contamination. Dry cleaning no longer takes place at Melody Cleaners. Dropped off clothes are instead laundered off site.
Elected officials, who maintain the information disseminated on this issue has been poorly worded and ill advised, have done their best to assuage residents' concerns since word of the contamination spread last January.
