Your questions about cleaning up Brookhaven Landfill’s toxic plume

The Town of Brookhaven submitted its draft Emerging Contaminant Plume Investigation Working Plan in October 2023 to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The department is reviewing the plan and will provide feedback before the town begins two years of field activities to assess the scope of damage from the toxic plume emanating from the Brookhaven Landfill.

The corrective measures process was the subject of a meeting hosted by the Brookhaven Village Association with the state agency's regional Division of Materials Management. Residents urged for the release of the town's October 2023 emerging contaminant report, which WSHU obtained by a public records request.

Officials noted that the town's report in an initial assessment of the scope of work required and will be altered by their evaluation.

The corrective measures program will assess all available options, “such as closing the landfill,” according to the DEC.

The landfill is scheduled to stop accepting construction and demolition debris by the end of 2024, but Deputy Supervisor Dan Panicp has said the facility may not fully close until capacity is reached in 2028. The Town of Brookhaven has not responded to requests for comment to verify capacity.

The Brookhaven Landfill was anticipated to reach the capacity limits of its DEC permit by December 2024. Town Supervisor Ed Romaine has said a slow down in construction and demolition during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed those projections — as reflected in the smaller source of revenue in the town's 2024 budget proposal.

An area west of the landfill on Station Road in North Bellport, under the Suffolk County Water Authority, has been treated for PFAS several times to meet the state’s evolving drinking water standard.

The DEC said there are no public water supply wells hydraulically downgradient of the landfill. The Station Road Wellfield is cross-gradient to the west of the landfill, and one of three wells have detections of PFAS.

This well was treated with granular activated carbon, and all water going to consumers from the Station Road Wellfield has PFAS detections below the state drinking water standards, according to the county Department of Health Services.

Since 2017, New York’s maximum contaminant level for PFAS has been changed three times. None of these wells exceeded the levels in that time.

At the closest lateral well field, on Patchogue Yaphank Road, the water quality has not had any major increases in PFOA and PFOS, and the highest levels detected did not exceed drinking water standards. Recent results show that the levels of PFOA and PFOS in the well water is low and stable, according to the SCWA, while the highest levels of these substances since 2017 were also relatively low.

Landfills were identified as potential sources of PFAS contamination by the DEC.

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services (SCDHS) conducted private well surveys in the vicinity of the Brookhaven Landfill in 2017 and 2022 to assess the presence of emerging contaminants like PFAS.

In 2017, of the 21 properties potentially served by 11 private wells:

• Three wells tested above the maximum contaminant levels for PFOS/PFOA.
• Two wells tested below.
• Six wells had no detection. 

In 2022, of the 12 properties potentially served by six private wells:

• One had a point-of-entry treatment system — actively filtering and treating all water as it enters the home or building — and sampled by the DEC.
• One well tested above the maximum contaminant levels for PFOS/PFOA.
• One well tested below.
• Four wells had no detection. 

Compared to the 2017 Private Well Survey, there was a noticeable decrease in PFOS/PFOA five years later. The properties with PFOS/PFOA were found in the hamlets of North Bellport and Brookhaven, according to the Suffolk County Water Authority.

According to the DEC, the town must have a public meeting — not a public hearing — before they decide what to do. The meeting, which is expected to be in 2025, will be after field activities are finished and a plume characterization investigation report is submitted to the state. At this meeting, they will discuss the potential steps to take before they select the corrective measures for the state to approve.

The town has faced criticism for how it has handled these issues. Members of the North Bellport community are upset due to the lack of transparency and communication shared regarding the risks and damage caused by the Brookhaven Landfill. They are also concerned about the well-being of homeowners with private wells in the affected area and whether PFAS-contaminated locations are being properly managed.

The report needs to pinpoint and describe the sources of the contamination. It must include the quantity, concentration, how the contaminants behave in the environment and how they move, including their phase, location and other important characteristics. It must define hydrogeological factors when necessary, including soil properties, depth to saturated zone and others. It should include a qualitative assessment for how the contaminants may impact a human’s health and any harm to wildlife or the environment, such as impact on fish or mining and recreation.

The DEC has not responded to a freedom of information request with Brookhaven Town's plan that was due Oct. 7.

A corrective measures assessment program, as outlined in DEC regulations (6 NYCRR 363-10.1), is a structured process designed to identify and implement solutions for addressing environmental contamination issues. They will be selected and approved by the state based on several key criteria: protection of public health and the environment, compliance with groundwater protection standards and source contamination control.

Brookhaven Town had a deadline of Sept. 7 to start the corrective measures assessment program and had to submit a Plume Characterization Investigation Work Plan for it by Oct. 7.

The DEC has not responded to a freedom of information request for related materials.

After completing certain on-site work and providing a report, the state will specify the final completion date. Then, the town must submit a report detailing their actions within two weeks. Once the state approves, Brookhaven Town has 90 days to determine how they will carry out any necessary improvements. This schedule will ensure they follow a structured process to efficiently address any issues, according to a DEC spokesperson.

After undergoing testing in 2017 and 2022 for the dangerous chemicals, the DEC ordered the Town of Brookhaven to figure out how far away from the landfill they have to go to remediate any drinking water sources that are affected. They found perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), as well as 1,4 Dioxane, known as “emerging contaminants,” which in recent years have been under intensive study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the DEC.

As of August 2020, the state drinking water standard for PFAS and PFOS is 10 parts per trillion (ppt). As of March 2023, the EPA has proposed standards at 4 ppt for each chemical.

The DEC formally notified the town on Aug. 8 to start its assessment, Brookhaven was required to notify community members, government agencies and nearby institutions by Sept. 7, and submit a plan for correction action by Oct. 7. Each month, the town must participate in a meeting with DEC to stay on track. Then, the DEC will determine the actions the town must take to finish the remediation program.

The DEC has not responded to a freedom of information request for related materials.

The contamination dates back to household waste, construction and demolition debris that was dumped in the 1980s and 1990s. In the early 1990s, state law required the closure of dozens of landfills across Long Island that accepted municipal solid waste, which consists of everyday items that are thrown away, to protect the sole-source aquifer that supplies the region’s drinking water supply. Since then, the household waste is hauled off of Long Island by rail and truck, but most is burned into ash for electricity at waste-to-energy plants.

Graphic edited by Josh Joseph

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WSHU

Most of the ash is disposed of at the Brookhaven Landfill.

The first four cells of the facility released ammonia and heavy metals into the waterways, creating a toxic plume. Reports show there has been groundwater and air contamination from the landfill over the past 50 years. Leachate, water that has filtered through waste from the landfill, impeded the Carmans River and Beaver Dam Creek compromising fish and wildlife.

However, the fifth, sixth and seventh landfill cells have a protective lining.

The plume is a serious concern because new sampling techniques have discovered PFAS and 1,4-Dioxane from this contamination showing up in drinking water sources and the environment.

PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. These are a group of man-made chemicals typically used in different products because of their ability to resist water, grease and heat. You can find PFAS in waterproof clothing, non-stick cookware and firefighting foam, among other consumer products. These “forever chemicals” take centuries to break down in the environment, which means when they seep into drinking water sources, they can be harmful to the human body.

Excessive levels of PFAS and 1,4-Dioxane were found downgradient from the Brookhaven Landfill at different times under differing drinking water standards. In August, residents living in neighborhoods in North Bellport, Brookhaven and Yaphank were advised of potential exposure.

Today, New York limits the amount of PFAS in drinking water to 10 parts per trillion (ppt) for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), and 1 part per billion (ppb) for 1,4-Dioxane. That's about 10 drops of water in an Olympic sized swimming pool.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed federal standards to be 4 ppt, which is the lowest concentration of these chemicals that most laboratories are able to reliably detect. According to the EPA, even tiny amounts of PFAS in drinking water can pose as a health risk.

Public water systems treat for PFAS by blending supplies to dilute the amount of the chemical detected in each sample, as well as filtering the water using graduated activated carbon.