Water quality problems focus of June 1 meeting

Town Board members have set a June 1 meeting with Kings Vale Water Company owners to discuss water quality problems experienced by Whittier and Deer Run residents.

The session is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the Town Hall on Town Hall Drive.

The concerns were addressed during a meeting last week. Supervisor James Quigley said there would be meeting notifications distributed door to door in the district.

“We have an offer from the management of New York American Water, the operator of the Kings Vale Company, to come to the town to hold a public Town Hall meeting with the residents

of the Whittier area to listen their concerns about the operations,” he said.

Quigley added that there will be a request for the Ulster County Health Department to attend the session.

“The Ulster County Health Department ... has direct oversight responsibility for the utility and its operations,” he said. “The water

system is not a town water system, and we have not proposed taking it over.”

Town attorney Jason Kovacs is a Whittier resident and said the water quality has been poor since he moved to the subdivision in 2004. He estimated there are about 200 properties served by the system, which

includes Kukuk Lane.

“It doesn’t taste great,” he said. “A lot of my neighbors buy bottled water ... and when I went (campaigning) door to door I got a lot of complaints about the water.”

Quigley said one resident has provided photographs of blackened water filters.

“The health department ... has dismissed his complaints because, in all their testing, they have found that the chemicals that get suspended, I believe it is sulphur and iron, they remain suspended in the water system and they pass through the body,” he said. “But his filtration system takes the iron and the sulphur out and it turns his filters black.”

In an email, New York American Water President Carmen Tierno encouraged customers to call the company at (877) 426-6999.

“We look forward to discussing our water treatment and testing processes with residents and local stakeholders at the June 1 Town Board meeting,” he wrote.