Toxic PFAS 'forever chemicals' found in 13 Long Island waters, national survey finds

Thirteen bodies of water on Long Island contained toxic PFAS compounds known as "forever chemicals," according to the results of a nationwide survey that identified more than 1,600 lakes, rivers and creeks with contamination.

The report, issued Wednesday by the Denver-based nonprofit Environment America Research & Policy Center, analyzed testing data collected by federal, state and local agencies and environmental groups between 2022 and 2024. The researchers found 83% of the sampled locations were contaminated with at least one PFAS compound, and some with more than a dozen. The results are "likely just the tip of the iceberg," the authors wrote, "as many waterways are not tested for PFAS at all."

"This is very expected," Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, told Newsday. "We know we have PFAS toxic chemicals in our groundwater," which feeds Long Island’s surface waters. "What would be shocking is if we didn’t find PFAS in these water bodies."

In New York, PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, were detected in 93.3% of the locations tested — 182 sites total, including more than two dozen along the shores of Lake Superior. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia had an even higher proportion of sites with PFAS detections.

"These toxic forever chemicals wind up in our waterways through an astounding number of pathways," said John Rumpler, clean water director at the Environment America Research & Policy Center.

The data collected by Environment America shows PFAS were found in rivers and creeks across Long Island, including tributaries to Manhasset Bay, Willetts Creek, Connetquot Brook, Carmans River and Beaverdam Creek. In all but two of the locations, the highest recorded concentration ranged from 3.3 to 17 nanograms per liter. (1 nanogram per liter is equivalent to 1 part per trillion.) The outliers were both along the Peconic River; at those sites, PFAS were measured at 60.3 and 120 nanograms per liter.

For comparison, the State Legislature recently passed a bill to lower the maximum level for PFAS in drinking water from 10 parts per trillion to 4 parts per trillion. The bill has not yet been signed by the governor. None of the water bodies that are cited in the report are drinking water sources, but the Suffolk County Department of Health Services has banned fishing from certain ponds where fish were found to be contaminated with PFAS.

The Peconic River locations are downstream from the former Grumman site in Calverton, where the company built and tested jets for the Navy in the 1950s and 1960s. A plume of contamination has been spreading underground from that site toward the Peconic.

Rumpler, with the policy center, said the data his group collected can’t identify the source of contamination of any of these locations. But other studies have confirmed "PFAS contamination from literally hundreds of military bases across the country," he said.

Facilities that manufacture PFAS chemicals or use them in their products or manufacturing process dump their wastewater directly into nearby waterways. PFAS enter surface waters from sewage treatment plants, which don’t filter for PFAS, and from runoff from military bases and airports that use firefighting foam containing PFAS. Ordinary households flush PFAS down their pipes with their toilet paper, shaving cream and makeup, all of which can contain PFAS.

PFAS are a group of more than 20,000 synthetic chemicals that are widely used in consumer and industrial products, from rain jackets to nonstick cookware to artificial turf.

Exposure to PFAS has been linked to kidney and testicular cancers, liver damage, harm to the immune system and other health problems. They are commonly called "forever chemicals" because they do not easily break down in the human body and can persist for thousands of years in the environment, where they can poison fish and other wildlife.

In July, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against companies that manufactured PFAS or used them in their products, including 3M, DuPont, Chemours, Corteva and others, arguing that they sold products they knew to be a health and environmental hazard. Funds recovered from the lawsuit would be used to clean up the toxic chemicals from state waterways and groundwater.

The report recommends that the first step to address the problem of PFAS in surface waters is to "turn off the toxic tap," Rumpler said. Instead of continuing to spend millions to remediate contamination, "We need to phase out the use of these toxic PFAS chemicals to begin with," he said.

The EPA under President Joe Biden advised state agencies in a 2022 memorandum on ways they could restrict PFAS discharges under the Clean Water Act, including by requiring safer alternatives. That memo was rescinded recently by the Trump administration.

Until manufacturers are pushed to switch to safer alternatives, Esposito said, PFAS "are just going to continue to flow in those rivers."

Newsday's Shari Einhorn contributed to this story.