Filter installed at Senior Center
New carbon filters were installed at the Senior Activities Center this morning that will rid the building — which includes two medical offices — of water contamination.
Less than a month after town officials received word that water at the building that houses the Senior Activities Center and two medical offices was contaminated with MTBE — a gasoline additive that leeched into groundwater — workers from AquaFuture, Inc. installed a carbon filter that will once again provide potable water.
AquaFuture, based in Ronkonkoma, is a contractor for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and has done water system-related work for the Island in the past as well as for other East End municipalities.
Based on two tests of the water by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, it was determined that MTBE levels were rising. The allowable level is 10 parts per billion and the initial reading reported to the town on May 24 was 12 parts per billion.
Other test results reported to the town on June 6 revealed the MTBE level had risen to 13 parts per billion.
That’s when the DEC announced it would send a contractor to install the filter system.
Since MTBE was found at the Senior Activities Center, neighbors were advised to get their own water tested and to drink bottled water in the interim. If their tests were positive, homeowners were advised to get a filter installed.
