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Town of Batavia residents urged to get on public water

By Howard B. Owens

The exact words may not have been spoken, but the message was clear for Town of Batavia residents Wednesday evening: Get on public water.

No matter how much you like your well water, there's no way to guarantee it will remain safe.

"We want to be sure people understand that those are three tests and those are three bad contaminates (e-coli, coliform and nitrates), but there is a concern you should have on other items possibly getting in (your water)," said town engineer Steve Mountain.

The tests for e-coli, coliform and nitrates are quick and easy, but Mountain's message was, if those containments can reach well water, so can other contaminates.

Once a well is shown to be susceptible to contamination from surface water -- which the tests for those three substances prove -- then the well should really be considered unsafe.

Tests of wells around the town found that containments from manure as well as human waste is getting into the ground water, and when members of the 100-person audience at Wednesday's meeting wanted information on how to trace the source to agriculture, Town Supervisor Greg Post suggested, gently, they were looking in the wrong direction.

“If there’s a blend of both (human and agricutlure), it really doesn’t matter," Post said. "The water’s not safe.”

Of the 38 wells tested in the Bank Street Road, State Street Road, Batavia-Elba Townline Road area, 14 tested positive for bacteria and 11 of 13 tested positive for unsafe levels of nitrates.

In the rest of the town, 11 of 52 tested positive for bacteria and 28 of 47 for nitrates.

The results show that Town of Batavia wells are susceptible to contamination from surface water.

Illustrating the point from the audience Wednesday night was Harlo Towner, a Batavia-Elba Townline Road resident who said his well water is completely unusable. He showers at the YMCA or his daughter's house in West Batavia, and when he comes in from gardening, he goes through a regime of anti-bacterial hand washing.

It's been that way for years.

He blames, in part, pesticide planes from the airport.

He said growing up his daughters had stomach problems and rashes that went away when they left for college.

For the past five years, he's been battling cancer. He doesn't think it's a coincidence.

"It's a really bad situation," he said. "We really need water bad. I think everybody on the road signed up for it."

Part of tonight's presentation included Mountain explaining how residents can get on public water, which consists of creating water districts.

There are grants available to help pay for the creation of water districts, but residents can expect to pay in the neighborhood of $700 per year for public water once a district is created, Mountain said.

Photo: Towner is in the center of the picture.

Karen Miconi

Get ready for big fat water bills folks. The poor people above look so hopeless. Their American Dream Squashed in the name of Pollution. Its unfair isnt it? How about the ones responsible for the contamination and pollution? What about them being held accountable?? No lets just force, more money, that these poor people DON'T have. They work all their lives, have a right to clean water, yet are being pretty much forced into this. Just goes to show, how the middle class is being "tied to the whipping post." Pay your water bill or dehydrate and die. Time for accountability, and not for these poor people, for the farming industry. Find a safer way to distribute manure, and do it now, before all our bodies of water, and all wells, and fresh water is destroyed. Is that acceptable to all of you? Just yesterday I watched a Tractor-Trailer drive behind the troopers barrocks, in that field, and unload thousands of gallons of liquid manure. Is there NO END to this madness ??

Apr 29, 2010, 8:20am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Karen, the contamination is coming from more sources than agriculture, such as septic tanks. Further, the real point is, wells in the particular soil structure of most of the Town of Batavia are susceptible to contamination from surface sources. Once that is shown to be the case, the well really isn't safe to use, whether there is agriculture in the area or not.

Apr 29, 2010, 8:47am Permalink
Thomas Mooney

Howard , Unless a septic tank is over flowing and or cracked , it would not contaminate wells . In other words the home owner would be in violation . I highly doubt home owners would knowingly allow this to happen when the well they pull from is the closest . Smoke screen is what it sounds like . How about the conflict of interest with Mr. Post suggesting a water district over finding the source . Of course Mr. Post could gain many installs of his private buisness if new water districts are formed. Farms over a certain size should be trapping methane gas with covers and using digesters on the sludge ponds . Also better guidlines on spreading manure needs to be in place . Spreading manure on frozen ground does nothing but contaminate surface water when the melt starts .As far as human waste goes , someone septic systen is leaking and that shouldn't be to hard to figure out . Karen is right in the fact that contamination of any fresh water needs to stop before its to late .

Apr 29, 2010, 9:25am Permalink
Gerald Fraterrigo

I could not agree with Karen and Thomas's views more.
Howard, I also agree with your comment, so why is the application of liquid manure on this soil still allowed?
Shouldn't the town be looking into measures to curb this practice in known areas that are suspect?
The comment made last night "you don't need an expert to tell you that this is a problem, put your glasses on and see for yourself".
I also find it suspect that the real reason the spike in well contamination this spring was "skirted" around by members of the board, ask the people who live there, they'll tell you exactly where its from.
Its happened before and it will happen again, there needs to be accountability, then maybe it will stop.

Apr 29, 2010, 10:07am Permalink
Richard Gahagan

Grandma you been poopin in the well again? Spreading manure is a sound agricultural practice, just don't build or buy your house in an area with thin soil above the bedrock.

Apr 29, 2010, 2:47pm Permalink
Gerald Fraterrigo

Spreading manure is a sound agricultural practice, but lets do it responsibly, especially knowing the type of soil your spreading it on.
Oh and its "liquid" manure pumped by thousands of gallons onto these thin soil fields that causes a problem.
I don't seem to recall this issue coming up when farmers spread solid waste and allowing it to decompose.
Because its a "sound" practice, doesn't mean you plug your ears and put your blinders on.
You may want to read "The Wasting of Rural New York State", Factory Farms and Public Health.

Apr 29, 2010, 3:45pm Permalink
Robert Hunt

Yes we want public water so we don't have to deal with our contaminated wells but we still want to know what the root of the contamination is. If your septic system if functioning properly that should not be the cause or the health department wouldn't allow them. So could it be coming from the airport from back when they used to dump their sewage in an open pond? Could it be coming from the farmer spreading large quantities of liquid manure in nearby fields?

There definitely should be some accountability but here's the problem. First the Health department has known for quite some time that the water in our area is susceptible to contamination but yet they still let people build new homes and install water wells. Second you have a very large farm that spreads liquid manure all over our area on a regular basis who's owner happens to be on the Town planning board.

The Town made it clear last night that they are not too concerned about the source of contamination but they can provide public water to correct it. So what do we do? I think the residents of the effected area North East of the thruway need to all come together and demand that someone be held accountable.

Apr 29, 2010, 3:46pm Permalink
Gerald Fraterrigo

Thanks for posting the link Bob.
Also, I don't think your going to have a problem getting people to come together as a group and get to the bottom of this. Its time to get a lawyer on retainer.

Apr 29, 2010, 3:56pm Permalink
Richard Gahagan

The town has issued building permits knowing that this area has a history of drinking water contamination. Why? to get the tax money and to have a large enough number of residence living in the area to warrant a water district.

Apr 29, 2010, 5:01pm Permalink

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