1977-01-06

              Mis** *-<"'** > ' ^ '
THE L. t. HISTORICAL
PIERRPONT & CUttTOU STS
^ i Prize Winning Weekly Serving The Greater Farmingdale Area Since 1920 £ J&\
An Official Newspaper for the Village of Farmingdale
VOL. 58 NO. 8 Soronit ClitMtt PostuKt* Paid
In Knrmtnj{< l' « " l>'. N. Y. 117.1? Thursday, January 6, 1977 Copyright 1976 by
Island— Wide Publications, Im* price 1 5* - $ 5 per year
15 Farmingdale Wells Being Checked
The Nassau County Depart­ment
of Health began to sample
water from 18 additional public
supply wells in the County on
Monday to determine the extent
of organic compounds present.
Twelve wells in the South Far­mingdale
Water Dist. and three
in the Village of Farmingdale
have been sampled.
The water will be tested by the
laboratory of the New York State
Department of Health in Albany,
according to Dr. John J. Dowling,
commissioner of the County
Health Department.
None of the wells - all of which
are in full operation today - had
been tested for organic com­pounds
before, he said. Most of
them are located in water
districts within a two- mile radius
of the Bethpage industrial
complex, although some are a
sufficient distance away to
measure the extent of spread of
the organic compounds.
The tests, Dr. Dowling ex­plained,
are part of an ongoing
series of examinations of the
water from public water supply
wells and wells serving the
Grumman Aerospace Cor­poration
in Bethpage. Sixty- six
I samples have been taken by the
I County Department to date, he
I said, from 42 wells and the results
I analyzed. Thirteen have been
Grumman wells and 29 serve the
public.
As part of an overall plan, the
Department will evaluate the
results of tests being made by the
suppliers.
With the 18 wells sampled on
Monday and the 28 already tested
by the suppliers, 88 wells have
been surveyed to date.
Only one of the 42 wells already
analyzed * - No. 14 on the
Grumman site - has been found
to contain vinyl chloride, an
organic chemical listed among 36
by the National Cancer Institute
to be a cancer- causing agent.
This well was shut down by
Grumman officials in August of
1975 when the vinyl chloride was
first detected, Dr. Dowling ad­ded.
Tiny quantities, measured in
billionth parts of water, of other.
organic chemicals - some of
them included on a list of 79 by
the National Academy of Science
as being suspected cancer-causing
agents - have been found
in Grumman's wells and in those
operated by public water sup­pliers,
the Commissioner ob­served.
" We must emphasize the
distinction between vinyl
chloride, which is accepted as
carcinogenic, and the other
chemicals, which are considered
as possible cancer- causing
agents," Dr. Dowling said. " A
careful search of the literature
and reports on these chemicals
does not indicate what effects - if
any - they will have in drinking
water."
Until standards are established
by the United States En­vironmental
Protection Agency
( EPA), on the maximum levels
of organic chemicals in water,
there is no reason to suggest to
Nassau County residents that
they should not drink water from
municipal sources, Dr. Dowling
added.
" Statements from public of­ficials
mat it is unsafe to drink
from Nassau County's public
water supply are not justified,"
Dr. Dowling said.
In response to published
statements concerning the
possible harmful effects of these
chemicals in drinking water on
pregnant women and their un­born
children, Dr. Dowling ob­served:
" At this time, there are no
scientifically- established facts
which definitely link any known
organic chemicals in drinking
water with harmful effects of any
type on the health of a pregnant
women or her unborn child.
" A few epidemiological and
toxicological studies in the past
have raised questions of a
possible and theoretical
association between certain
organic chemicals which may
exist in air, food or water, and
certain birth defects. However,
no bio- medical evidence or
knowledge has yet emerged
which can confirm any of these
suspicions or theories.
" Further national research
studies on this subject are in
progress and may take several
years to complete."
In summarizing, the problem,
EPA listed the following " un­disputed
facts:"
1. Organics - synthetic and
natural - are present in all
drinking waters to some extent.
2. The. major portion of
organics in most waters is of
natural origin.
3. Most of the specific organic
compounds ih drinking waters
have not been identified, and
analysis for many of them i s
difficult.
4. MOst of the / identified
organics in drinking waters have
not been bio- assayed.
5. Some of the organics that
have been identified in drinking
water are toxicants, mutagens,
and teratogens as indicated by
animal bioassey tests conducted
at high dosages.
6. The effect on humans of long-term
ingestion of very low levels
... of organic chemicals in
drinking water is not known, and
the portion of human exposure
from drinking water versus the
total exposure from all sources -
such as food and air ~ is seldom
known, although the drinking
water portion is usually con­sidered
to be small.
Other important con­siderations,
according to Dr.
Dowling, are:
1. Because of the high sen­sitivity
of testing procedures
required to detect minute
quantities of chemicals, the
possibility of laboratory error is
high.
2. Procedures for the
validations oY these tests have not
been established.
3. There are no legal standards
or limits for organic chemicals in
water supplier.
When the organic chemicals
werqjoun/ rt in. firjummanis MHSHS ~
and in recharge basins nearby,
the information was forwarded to
EPA, the New York State
Department of Health and the
New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation, he
continued.
" There was no attempt then -
and there is none now - to hide
any information from the
[ Continued on page 8]
—
Farmingdale's Bus Service Being Expanded
The Metropolitan Suburban
Bus Authority, which has ex­perienced
an increase in rider-ship
and revenue since the in­stitution
of the county- wide 50
cents fare that includes a free
transfer to two connecting routes,
plans to increase service on six
routes, create two short routes
from one long route, provide
faster late evening and Sunday
service on another route,_ and
institute several service"" ex­tensions
and schedule ad­justments.
According to Andrew G.
Schiavone, MSBA executive
officer, these changes, which will
go into effect on Sunday, January
9, have been designed to make
the bus system more convenient
for the residents of and visitors to
Nassau County.
The most significant increase
in service, stated Schiavone, will
occur on the N72 route which
FAAS Recognized
After a two year battle, the
Farminguaie Board of Education
recognized the Farmingdale
Association of Administrators
and Supervisors as the exclusive
negotiation representative for all
principals, assistant principals,
directors and department
chairmen in the school district.
The official recognition took
place at Monday night's regular
school board meeting, following a
ruling by the State Public Em­ployee
Relations Board.
Previously the group was three
separate units, negotiating three
different contracts. FAAS now
represents about 60 employees of
the district on various super­visory
levels.
The board will begin con­ducting
interviews next week
with proposed candidates for the
position of Superintendent of
Schools. Thus far the only known
candidate is John Regan,
assistant to the superintendent.
Regan is believed to be the only
candidate from within the
Farmingdale District.
In other action Monday night,
the board named Mrs. June
Drewes as acting district clerk to
serve throughout the period of
absence of the regular district
clerk, Mrs. Veronica Hansen.
Mrs. Hansen was injured in a fall
and will be incapacitated for a
minimum of six weeks.
serves Hempstead, Levittown,
Plainedge, Farmingdale and
Babylon, via Hempstead Turn­pike,
Conklin Street, Route 110
and Route 109.
Improvements include earlier
a. m. rush hour service from
Babylon, Farmingdale and
Levittown; the initiation of p. m.
rush hour service to Babylon; the
initiation of late evening service
between Hempstead and Far­mingdale;
and increased
Saturday service along Hemp­stead
Turnpike, including, for the
first time ever, Saturday
Hempstead - Babylon service.
Weekdays, in the a. m. rush
hOUfS, there Will be four earlier
buses from Farmingdale to
Hempstead including 5: 15 a. m.,
5: 50 a. m. and 6: 15 a. m. depar­tures
from Route 110 and Conklin
Street and a 6: 38 a. m. bus from
Main and Conklin Streets.
There will also be two earlier
departures from Babylon at 6: 00
a. m. and 7: 20 a. m. and a 6: 03
a. m. departure from Gardiners
AvenUe and Prairie Lane,
Levittown, on the N72G route.
In the p. m. rush hour, there will
be two later buses from Hemp­stead
to Babylon at 5: 15 p. m. and
6: 15 p. m., and two new depar­tures
from Babylon to Hemp­stead
at 6: 15 p. m. and 7: 15 p. m.
Following the evening rush
hour, there will be service every
half- hour between Hempstead
and Farmingdale with the last
bus from Farmingdale at 11: 05
p. m. and the last bus from
Hempstead at 11: 45 p. m. For­merly
service from Hempstead
to Farmingdale ended at 7: 45
p. m. and hourly service to
Levittown ended at 9: 45 p. m.
Saturdays, service has been
doubled to twice hourly between
Farmingdale and Hempstead
throughout the morning and
afternoon, with service between
Hempstead and Levittown
running three times per hour.
The new Saturday service to
Babylon begins with a 6: 30 a. m.
departure from Hempstead.
Buses run every hour until 6: 15
p. m., with all except the first
leaving the Hempstead Terminal
at a quarter past the hour.
Westbound, the first bus leaves
Babyldn at 7: 20 a. m. Hourly
service continues throughout the
day, with all buses leaving the
Babylon Railroad Station at
twenty past the hour, except for
the last departure at 5: 50 p. m.
From Farmingdale, the first
Saturday departures to Hemp­stead
have been moved up to 5: 55
a. m. and 6: 45 a. m. instead of 6
a. m. and 7: 10 a. m.
From Gardiners Avenue and
Prairie Lane, Levittown, the
departure of the first N72G bus
[ Continued on page 8]
Colby Sworn
As Supervisor
Joseph Colby was formally
sworn In as Town Supervisor
Tuesday, January 4, in the
Hearing Room of Town Hall East
immediately preceding the Town
Board's first meeting of the new
year.
Town Councilman Thomas L.
Clark, appointed to the Board
mid- 1976 and successful in the
last election, was also sworn in to
fill the remaining three years of
an unexpired term.
State Supreme Court Justice
John W. Burke, the man whom
Colby suceeds, administered the
Oaths of Office to Supervisor
Colby and Councilman Clark.
An Invocation was offered by.
Rabbi Samuel B. Press of the
Oyster Bay Jewish Center, and
the Reverend John C. Seiden-schwang,
principal of the Holy
Trinity Diocesan High School,
delivered the Benediction.