Albany, NY - April 6, 2017 - Senator Todd Kaminsky proudly voted in support of water quality legislation that will increase regulation of 1,4-dioxane. The bills require public drinking water supplies to be tested for 1,4-dioxane, establish a Drinking Water Quality Council to provide recommendations to the Commissioner of Health, and allocate $1 million for an 1,4-dioxane treatment pilot program. Senator Kaminsky has sponsored legislation requiring the State to set a maximum level of 1,4-dioxane allowed in the public drinking water supply.
"Water is our most precious resource, and we must do everything we can to keep it pristine,” said Senator Todd Kaminsky. “I am proud to have fought for required testing of the hazardous chemical 1,4-Dioxane, and this legislation will help ensure that the public knows what is in their drinking water. However, when it comes to protecting the safety of our drinking water we cannot become complacent. To protect New Yorkers from 1,4-dioxane, we must set a maximum contaminant level for this chemical as soon as possible.”
The legislation names 1,4-Dioxane as an emerging contaminant, requires that notification levels be established, and mandates that public water systems test for the chemical. $1 million is allocated in the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) for the Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook to further a pilot program to remove 1,4-dioxane from water. Separately, $2.5 billion is also provided for clean water infrastructure projects across New York. The funding will partly go to lead service line replacement and to identify and mitigate sites affected by emerging contaminants such as 1,4-Dioxane.
The bill also creates a Drinking Water Quality Council that is authorized to make recommendations to the Commissioner of Health as to what contaminants should be tested for in public drinking water systems.
On the Senate floor, Senator Kaminsky spoke in favor of the water quality measures and advocated for New York to aggressively protect the safety of drinking water:
“I don’t think we can expect our federal government to get into the clean water business anytime soon -- in fact, the previous administration did nothing when it came to 1,4-dioxane advisories either, so we have to be aggressive,” said Senator Todd Kaminsky on the floor. “This [legislation] is a good step forward. We have to do more, we have to be vigilant, and I appreciate those who contributed to making water an important issue and a centerpiece of this budget.”
As Ranking Member of the Environmental Conservation Committee, Senator Kaminsky has fought to protect our drinking water on Long Island and across New York. He has sponsored legislation to require the State review and regulate 1,4-Dioxane, a hazardous chemical identified as a ‘probable carcinogen’ by the Environmental Protection Agency. In February, he, alongside Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and other Democratic Senators, announced a legislative package designed to protect the quality of water for all New Yorkers in Long Beach.