Water Department cited for multiple violations; Harry Weed retires

The village’s Water Department was cited by the county Department of Health last week for three violations, including two for not correctly monitoring water.

On Sept. 25, the village received a notice from the DOH that it had not analyzed samples of water from eight of its wells for nitrates at any time in 2014, as required by the state Sanitary Code. Nitrates are most commonly found in fertilizers, and can also come from municipal wastewater and septic systems.

The Water Department also failed to begin monitoring in the last quarter of 2013 for disinfectant byproducts used to eliminate bacteria in water, the DOH stated, a violation of federal regulations. When the Water Department released its 2014 drinking water report, it stated that the level of disinfectants was within acceptable limits.

“We’re investigating [the violations],” said Village Administrator Keith Spadaro. “We don’t think we missed any of the sampling. We think we did everything we were supposed to do, and results didn’t get there. Why would we not test one quarter?”

Spadaro said he was confident that the village performed the proper testing, but the results were lost or misplaced. “I’m pretty sure by the end of the week you’ll see we did test and it just didn’t register,” he said.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, once ingested nitrates become nitrites, which can pose significant, and possibly fatal, health risks for infants younger than six months. And too high a concentration of the disinfectants byproducts can cause cancer, and pose reproductive and developmental health risks as well.

The village was also in violation of a state code requiring it to obtain approval of engineering plans prior to starting water main construction, the DOH said. Specifically, the village apparently failed to receive approval before installing 150 feet of new water main on Earl Avenue.

Spadaro said he did not know enough about the Earl Avenue violation to comment on it.

The notice of violations came just as the village hired a new supervisor of the Water Department, Kevin Reilly. It also came days before Harry Weed, the superintendent of public works and the former head of the Water Department, was set to retire. Weed’s last day with the village was Sept. 30.

Spadaro dispelled rumors that Weed’s retirement was related to the water violations. “We did not terminate Harry. We did not feel he had to leave,” Spadaro said, adding that Weed has 33 years in the pension system. “He just made the decision he wanted to retire.”