DEP Invoice or Financial Record, September 30, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

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Ryan, Geoff

From: Osorio, Maria Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 5:37 PM To: Principe, Mike; Lipsky, David; Ashendorff, Arthur (ex); Freud, Salome (ex); Seeley, Anne (ex); Neuman, Sharon (ex); Ryan, Geoff Subject: NYC monitoring continues to show safe water

FYI. The following article was posted on WaterTech eNews on Sept 24, 2001. MO ****************************************************************'**«***********************

NYC monitoring continues to show safe water NEW YORK - US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christie Whitman said Friday, 21 September, that the most detailed results to date of ongoing monitoring of drinking water here provide additional reassurance that city residents are not being exposed to dangerous contaminants during the cleanup of debris from 11 September's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Contaminants tested for include asbestos, radiation, mercury and other metals, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and bacteria, EPA said. "As we continue to monitor drinking water in and around New York City, and as EPA gets more comprehensive analysis of this monitoring data, I am relieved to be able to reassure New York and New Jersey residents that a host of potential contaminants are either not detectable or are below the agency’s concern levels," Whitman said. "Results we have just received on drinking water quality show that not only is asbestos not detectable, but also we can not detect any bacterid contamination, PCBs or pesticides. Whitman confirmed that EPA persoimel, working in coordination with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection at and around the World Trade Center disaster site, have thus far taken a total of 13 drinking water samples from water mains in lower Manhattan. In addition to analyzing the samples for asbestos, pesticides and PCBs, EPA has also tested drinking water for metals (including mercury), and radioactivity (both alpha and beta). None of these contaminants exceeded EPA drinking water standards.

"In addition to carefully evaluating drinking water in the New York area, EPA has taken samples at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, where runoff from lower Manhattan goes for treatment, to identify what sort of materials are leaving the disaster site," Whitman continued. "While we haven't yet gotten results for all possible contaminants, we do know that levels of metals and mercury are below permit discharge limits."

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