Village of Monroe

News & Important Notes

Good Evening,
On Thursday January 24th at approximately 7:00 pm I was notified that a resident in the Town of Monroe had posted on social media that she believed there was liquid sewage bubbling out across from her property.

I immediately reached out through that social media platform asking the resident to please contact the Monroe Police Department in this regard and to leave her contact information so I could contact her. After waiting a short while and not hearing back, I contacted my Police Department and asked them to gather the contact information for me so that I could call this resident. At approximately 7:57 pm, I attempted to contact the person who had the concern and was not able to speak with her.

At 7:59 pm, I was contacted by Supervisor Cardone informing me about the situation and that he was going to go to the site to investigate. At 8:01 pm, I contacted the Chief of Police and requested that a Police Officer escort me to the property owner location to assist in this investigation. At 8:21 pm, Supervisor Cardone contacted the MOODNA Basin Commission Manager to advise him of the situation and was told that the on call employee would be on sight shortly.

At approximately 9:01 pm, a MOODNA Basin Commission employee was on sight at their pump station and met myself, my Police Officer and a resident familiar with the situation. After walking along West Mombasha Road with the MOODNA Basin employee and my officer, we came upon a smell consistent with liquid sewage. Looking around within 200 feet in every direction, we could not find any material or liquid percolating up through the ground as initially reported. The MOODNA Basin employee activated a pump to create an opportunity to see if anything would come out of the ground and that also proved unsuccessful. After discussing with all parties involved that in fact we did smell it, but did not visually see anything, the MOODNA Basin employee advised us he would return to his office and pull the pertinent maps and details to assist with this work the following morning. We cleared the site at 9:10 pm, and at 10:23 pm I contacted my Water Department Supervisor and asked him to contact me in the morning.

On Friday, January 25th at 6:30 am I spoke with my Water Supervisor, advised him of the situation, and asked that he meet me at Village Hall so that together we could go up to the site and observe things in the daylight. I contacted Supervisor Cardone and asked him to meet us there as well. I asked my Water Supervisor to bring sample bottles so that samples could be drawn in several areas along the roadside of the concerned area. We arrived on site and discovered that a manhole had been uncovered along the road near the questionable area. My Water Supervisor contacted the MOODNA Basin Commission manager and updated them as to the Village's work and asked them for the status of their work, and what work their employee had done prior to our arrival.

At this point samples were taken, we observed the surrounding area up to the lakes edge and found no effluent material percolating through the ground or skimming along the road bed. Before leaving the site to return to Village Hall I instructed my Water Supervisor, by "chain of custody", to personally deliver the water samples to the lab that we use for analysis. I arrived at Village Hall and advised my Clerk of the status and asked her to get contact information for the DEC and Orange County Department of Health. Calls were placed to both agencies. When we contacted the DEC we were advised that their phone system was down and the only way to reach our DEC contact was via email, so an email was sent to her at 10:35 am.

We then contacted the Orange County Dept. of Health. After our initial call to the Department of Health and by a recommendation from them, we followed up with a call to the DEC Hotline for Spills, filed a report, and were provided with a spill number reflecting the possible sewer spillage into Mombasha Lake. The DEC responded to us via a spill report agent who advised us that his work was specific to oil spillage and referred us to the DEC Division of Water. At this time, we are awaiting a response from that Department. As the investigation moves forward with that agency we will update you.

Regarding the quality and potability of our water, please note that all water in our reservoir is "raw" untreated water which is sent to our water treatment plant by underground pipe and gravity and is put through a very stringent process to make it potable at the level that we deliver to our users every day.

I respectfully and confidentially advise to all our water users that the water quality which is tested daily, has performed well above average in quality and the results prior to this specific incident are available on our website at www.villageofmonroe.org, located on our home page under the Village Bulletin Board, you will see the Annual Drinking Water Quality Report.

I will be available to anyone having concerns going forward. There are daily, weekly, monthly and annual water quality tests that are performed by licensed water operators within our Department and which are then tested in State Certified labs under very stringent guidelines for a public water utility, which we are required by law and the Board of Health to comply with and adhere to for any modifications and or adjustments to the treatment process. As such, we are confident of its quality and is safe to consume without boiling or other means of intervention.

Should you have further concerns or questions regarding this or other issues, please feel free to contact me or the Village Clerk at 845-782-8341, or via email at: [email protected] or [email protected]

You can also contact the Orange County Board of Health at 845-294-2374 for any concerns as well.

Please note that this is an ongoing investigation and I will keep everyone up to date via our website and Constant Contact. I thank you for your concerns and patience while we work through this, and be assured that my Board and our employees here in the Village as well as our neighboring municipalities take this and all matters under our responsibilities with the utmost seriousness and respect.

Respectfully,
Neil Dwyer
Mayor

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The Village of Monroe will be celebrating it's 125th Anniversary in 2019.
This Quasquecentennial Celebration will feature monthly events, January through December.

Anyone interested, please email Trustee Dorey Houle at [email protected], or contact the Clerk's Office at 782-8341 to add your name to the Volunteer list! (Please be sure to include not only your name, but a phone number and email address.) More information to follow!

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