Following years of pleas from residents and environmental advocates, the New York State Drinking Water Quality Council (DWQC) recently made recommendations to the Department of Health to set enforceable safety standards to protect New York’s drinking water systems.
Local manufacturing plants have contaminated the water supply in communities across New York State for decades through the improper disposal of dangerous chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency has failed to take timely action to address this growing public health crisis and the DWQC’s recommendations represent the state’s s first meaningful steps to protect its residents.
In an op-ed published in the Albany Times Union, Weitz & Luxenberg attorney James Bilsborrow praises the DWQC for their recommendations while pointing out that the proposed guidelines still allow potentially unsafe levels of dangerous, carcinogenic chemicals in New York’s drinking water.
Bilsborrow also urges Health Commissioner Howard Zucker to approve and enact the Council’s recommendations as soon as possible. He calls on all New Yorkers to encourage the Commissioner to adopt the proposed – or even stricter – water safety regulations during the public comment period of the regulatory process.
Mr. Bilsborrow is one of Weitz & Luxenberg’s lead attorneys for environmental and consumer protection. He currently represents residents of Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh in ongoing tort claims against companies that allegedly used and improperly disposed of dangerous chemicals like PFAS and PFOA in their industrial processes.
