Too slow to clean up

Five years ago, residents of Hoosick Falls learned that toxic chemicals known as PFAS had contaminated their drinking water.

Think what such a discovery would mean for you if your were a resident of the village on the eastern edge of Rensselaer County. Imagine the concern you would feel for the health of your children, neighbors and community. Imagine the incredible worry, and the anger at knowing state and federal governments failed to prevent such a thing.

There is no doubt the people of Hoosick Falls deserved better, and that the regulation of PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – was too lax, given how the suspected carcinogens affect human health and their durability once released into the environment. They are called “forever chemicals” for a reason.

What’s both remarkable and indefensible, five years out, is the scant progress. Hoosick Falls, like Flint, Mich., and other cities found to have contaminated water, serves as a national warning of the dangers of unchecked pollution. Yet there still aren’t enough checks to prevent similar scenarios from happening elsewhere.

While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a health-advisory level for PFAS in drinking water, it is unenforceable. There is no federal enforceable maximum standard for PFAS in water supplies, even though the EPA has the power to set one. The inaction is mystifying.

And Congress has treated another huge source of PFAS — military installations — as some kind delicate issue. It included some funds for cleanups in the latest defense bill, but balked at mandating the Defense Department do a robust cleanup.

Meanwhile, Hoosick Falls continues to live with uncertainty. Just days ago, the state Department of Environmental Protection finally released its final report on alternative drinking water options for the village, where a filtration system now removes PFAS from groundwater contaminated, it is believed, by Teflon manufacturers.

If you’re wondering why it took the DEC so long to release the report, you’re not alone. DEC has yet to make its final recommendation on whether to pump in water from the Tomhannock Reservoir or the city of Troy, tap into underground aquifers at nearby farms, or pursue another option. The state’s lack of urgency is inexcusable.

Again, consider the perspective from Hoosick Falls, where some residents are wary of the filtered water. Imagine the anxiety involved in still not having a permanent solution. Consider the impact the uncertainty could be having on real estate prices or business development. Imagine the frustration you might feel as the DEC plods its way toward a resolution.

If you’re familiar with Hoosick Falls, you know the village has the appeal and charm of a classic small American town — qualities that, in a way, became disconcerting when the water contamination was discovered.

After all, if such devastating pollution could happen in a place as nice as Hoosick Falls, it could happen anywhere. Five years after the discovery, more action is needed so the village can fully recover — and so Americans everywhere know the same fate can’t befall them.