'We just don't know what to do'

By Geri Corey
GOSHEN — Supplying taps on Police Drive with clean, potable drinking water has been like taking a ride on a merry-go-round. There’s some activity, but it’s not going anywhere.

Three residences on Police Drive, along with the Town of Goshen Police Department, the town's highway department, the Goshen Humane Society's animal shelter, and several businesses, have wells contaminated by a known carcinogen, the gasoline additive MTBE.

In June 2014, Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus sent out a press release saying that the legislature’s Physical Services Committee "unanimously agreed to approve a $350,000 bond, as a supplemental appropriation to the Department of Public Works’ 2014 budget, to connect the homes to a Village of Goshen water line supplied by a nearby reservoir.”

The water connection still hasn’t happened. Why are people still living with polluted water? Still using bottled water to drink and cook with? Still showering and washing dishes with water that bad for their health?

The problem was detected in 2006, but has been ongoing since 1998.

Living with the danger of potentially cancer-causing water has taken a toll on the people living this outlandish lifestyle.

“We are tired of hearing that there may be something settled and then there is nothing," said Police Drive resident Darlene Bartley. "We just do not know what to do anymore. This is not the life we looked forward to.”

Darlene and her husband, Cliff, are now grandparents. The cloud of contamination shadows this relationship, too.

“We have grandchildren who we hardly see because my daughter will not expose them to having to eat off our dishes and take showers here," she said.

A vote by the full Legislature, expected last July, was needed for the project to move forward. It didn’t happen. The resolution was returned to the Physical Services Committee.

State steps inMTBE was first discovered in the well in July 2006, when the Town of Goshen hooked up a new water softener at the town police department. Town Supervisor Doug Bloomfield alerted the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and organized a meeting with agent David Traver, town engineer Stanec Engineering, and Joe Klopchin, licensed water/sewer operator for the town.

"Traver told us exactly what to do, and we did it,” said Bloomfield. That included pressure-checking all town tanks and doing soil borings. "Traver informed the town that there was no visible evidence found on the ground of a spill."

Additionally, with the approval of then-Mayor Scott Wohl of the Village of Goshen, town officials worked with Stantec to design a system to connect homes with village water by bringing a pipeline down Police Drive.

The completed design was sent to the Orange County Health Department for approval.

In 2007, the town was informed that town property wasn’t the source of the problem. In fact, it was found that a leak at the Orange County DPW had been discovered in 1998.

Orange County declined lead agency status of the project to resolve the problem, so in 2009 the state stepped into the role. The state determined that bottled water was okay for residents until a lawsuit brought by residents against the county was resolved. The lawsuit still hasn’t been settled.

Bad connections, long delays“Right now we are still waiting to hear from the county as they keep postponing court dates," Bartley said. "I would like to make it clear to everyone that we have not gotten any water hook ups, yet."

Families affected by the problem are waiting to hear of the formulation of an intermunicipal agreement between the county, town and village to determine a course of action. They were never notified.

Dain Pascocello, spokesperson for Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus, said an intermunicipal agreement had been forwarded to the Village of Goshen on July 9, but that village trustees hadn’t responded.

“What are village's concerns?” Pascocello wondered.

In response, Village Mayor Kyle Roddey noted that miscommunication with the county caused the delay.

“Each of us was waiting for a response from the other,” he said.

Now, it seems, the village and county have connected. But some issues remain to be worked out, mainly supplying water to more entities than just the three households.

“We’ve agreed to take on Entenmann’s, but county engineering specs show additional connects that haven’t been discussed," said Roddey. "Making other connects require more investigation and due diligence. It might make sense, but it requires more thought and investigation.”

Said Pascocello, in an email to The Chronicle: “Orange County and the Village of Goshen both support extending the waterline and are currently discussing engineering and cost details related to the inter-muncipal agreement. We hope to finalize plans with Village of Goshen officials soon.”

Bartley said it's hard to trust the county.

“They had spills and no one knew about them," she said. "It scares me to death that it can keep happening and no one knows. My stress level is not good. We still live in the fear of not knowing what other health issues can still happen to us.”

Town and village authorities say they are committed to getting clean water to families on Police Drive.

“They deserve good water," said Bloomfield. "It was never an issue with us. We did research, spent money to design a system and got it approved."

Roddey agreed on behalf of the village.

“We’re unwavering in our position to provide water service to homes on Police Drive," said Roddey. "We look forward to working it out through the intermunicipal agreement with the county and the town."

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