This week another water authority in Nassau County joined nine others in suing the manufacturers of a likely cancer-causing compound that polluted drinking water wells. The latest suit affects 45,000 residents.
Manhasset-Lakeville Water District claims three manufacturers knowingly and willfully produced, promoted and sold products containing 1,4-dioxane to industrial facilities in the county when they knew, or should have known, it was harmful and would inevitably reach groundwater.
1,4-dioxane is a synthetic industrial chemical that was widely used in industrial solvents that dissolved greasy and oily substances from machined metal products.
In response to suits from other Nassau water districts, Dow Chemical said it was not responsible for contamination on Long Island. A similar suit in Suffolk County is proceeding in federal court. In the meantime, New York State is expected to set the first drinking water standard in the nation for 1,4-dioxane.