Residents Express Frustrations about E Coli Alert

Following the chaos of last week’s  that affected more than 22,000 residents in parts of Western Nassau County, a meeting was held on Monday night to address the issues and concerns of local residents at the headquarters in Floral Park. 

According to water authority board Chairman John Ryan, this incident is the worst act of government over the past 30 years.

“This was not generated in the water supply, there is nothing whatsoever in the water supply,” explained Ryan. “This incident alarmed people unnecessarily and no one got sick.”

Only a handful of people showed up to convey the voices of the community yet there was a lot to be addressed regarding the way it was handled.

Maria Clark, a New Hyde Park resident who attended the meeting, voiced her concern for her health as well as the health of others affected by the alert.

“I have immunosuppressant problems,” Clark explained. “Had I not have been at the Floral Park pool to notice the faucets that were covered, I wouldn’t have known there was an issue until the following afternoon.”

It is the “what if” factor that community residents feel most strongly about. What if the retests did not come back negative? Despite no one getting sick, Clark said “it was a lot of water to consume” for those people who did not receive notification about possible contamination until hours later or the next day.

Although the results of later water samples came back negative, residents feel that there was a lack of communication. While automated phone messages were delivered to many residents and notes were placed on doorsteps, there were still people who were not kept informed.

Another resident, Athena Carr from Floral Park, voiced her frustrations, saying, “Things like this do happen, it happens throughout the United States but it is the way it was handled that upsets me."

It was also by coincidence that Carr found out about the boil alert. When Carr was walking her dog, she overheard a neighbor saying they needed to go buy water. This lack of notification raises concerns for the people that are less active in the community, leave home infrequently and may not know how to use the computer.

“Last summer, they [the Water Authority] were very quick to put a note on my door when I had forgotten about the water rationing,” she said. “That they could do awfully fast but they couldn’t let us know that it wasn't safe to drink our tap water.”

Members of the board will attend a meeting next week with the Health Department to address the current regulations and perhaps fine tune them to prevent this from happening again.