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June 05, 1980 - Paul's Cover Picture of Pound NetInterest Conflict Charged S.I. Board Turns Back In Southold. School Race $110,000 Federal Grant Page 3 Page 4 s X 03 liff0t k rim I w r > Ckl- d w � Y Serving Southold Town, Shelter Island Town and the Incorporated Village of Greenport Copyright 1980 w ' mes One Hundred And Twenty -Third Year No. 47 Thursday, June 5, 1980 Subscription $12.00 a Year in Advance. x u M 104; F- w C, SITTING and WAITING, Orient Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh Greenport Issues Another Water Warning GREENPORT- -The Village of ureen- port has been pumping drinking water from a well containing the pesticide Temik at more than twice allowable levels for the past two weeks, officials revealed at Tuesday night's executive session of the village board. Utilities Superintendent James Monsell said the well was used "intermittently" and the biggest daily output from the well was 180,000 gallons, on a day when the village pumped 970,000 total gallons to its customers. The well is located in a well field in Southold which has been closed for two extended periods since last August on account of high Temik levels. Mr. Monsell said he had been in touch with county Health Department officials, who had given him the go -ahead to operate well 6 -1 when the village could not pump enough water to serve its customers. Dennis Moran, head of the Water Control Unit of the Suffolk County Health Depart- ment, said that, legally, "there is no specific criteria for Temik limits." The ceiling of seven parts per billion is a guideline set up by the state Health Department. Recent tests put the level of Temik in well 6 -1 at 15 parts per billion. See notice, Page 15A "If any emergency condition arises, such as danger from lack of fire protection if the pressure is low, we can't tell them not to use the well," Mr. Moran said. "We request that notification be sent out to customers about the emergency condi- tion." Plant 6 provided about 60 percent of the village's water supply before it was taken off line. When a recent mechanical failure took another wellsite, Plant 3, off line recently, officials were forced to put well 6 -1 back in service. Plant 3 was expected to be repaired and pumping by the end of the week. In a special meeting Tuesday night, the village board acted on several things to help ease the water crisis: * Decided to advertise for bids on the rental of carbon absorption equipment to treat the water, from well 6 -1 until new water sources can be tapped. The treat- ment reportedly removes Temik from the water, but the equipment had been con- sidered to be too costly to be considered before the crisis situation developed. Officials said the carbon treatment equip- ment would cost $50,000 for a three -month rental. If all goes well, the equipment will be installed and working by early July, board members said. Two weeks ago village engineers had experimented with a caustic soda treat- ment to eliminate the Temik, but the treatment was not successful. Will Seek Pipeline Bids * Decided to advertise for bids on the pipe needed to hook proposed wellsite N7 into the village system. Plant 7, located off Bowery Lane in Southold, is to be built with a $200,000 federal Imminent Threat grant, but some concern has been raised about the Temik levels recently found in the well on the site. * Decided to exercise its option to sink a well on a 6 -acre plot in the Pebble Beach development in East Marion, and author- ized Mr. Monsell to sink a two -inch test well at the site for testing. The board also authorized village eng- ineer Sam McLendon to work up specifica- tions to put the well on line. The well is expected to cost $159,000, and the board indicated that should construction of plant 7 turn out to be unfeasible, it was possible that federal authorities would agree to free the Imminent Threat funds for the East Marion project. Mr. Monsell said he thought the Pebble Beach site "could be a major production well," but at a meeting with the board two weeks ago, Mr. McLendon said he felt that the mains on the North Road were only capable of handling a limited increase in flow. Tests of the mains were expected to begin in the next few days. * Decided "to release a Water Alert Notice to the media and put notices in each water customer's bill, outlining the poten- tial dangers to pregnant women and small children. The board also decided to ban all irrigation and to ask customers not to sprinkle lawns, and otherwise conserve as much water as possible. The board also acknowledged the receipt of a letter signed by the chiefs of the Fire Department and Mayor George Hubbard, saying that firemen would pump water from the bay in as many fire situations as possible. In response to a question posed from the audience, Trustee Bill Lieblein said, "It (Temik) is certainly not something that's good for you ... it's something to be con- cerned about. But it's not something to panic over. If you're on the village water system, you're a lot better off than a lot of people who have their own wells."