CITY OF NEWBURGH – Newburgh’s City Council laid the groundwork for a potential lawsuit over Stewart Air National Guard Base’s contamination of the city’s primary water supply, which has forced a switch to New York City water, alarmed residents and cost the state more than $25 million.

On Monday, the Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing City Manager Michael Ciaravino to sue “any and all potentially responsible parties” related to the contamination of Washington Lake by perfluorooctane sulfonate, a toxic chemical more commonly known as PFOS.

While the resolution is not an actual lawsuit and does not name possible defendants, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has held the federal Department of Defense responsible for the Stewart Air Base contamination.

“The time has come to put this forth,” Mayor Judy Kennedy said.

Newburgh and its residents are victims of a national contamination problem that has emerged in communities near military facilities that have used a special firefighting foam created to suppress fires involving aviation fuel.

Stewart Air Base is among two bases in the state and a larger number of military bases nationwide that have been blamed for releasing PFOS and a sister chemical called PFOA into public water systems and private wells used by residents of nearby communities.

Both chemicals were used in firefighting foams and have been linked to kidney and testicular cancers, birth defects, ulcerative colitis, high cholesterol and other health problems.

Newburgh closed Washington Lake in May 2016 due to high levels of PFOS.

In August 2016, the DEC designated Stewart Air Base as a state Superfund site after an investigation found significant levels of PFOS in water samples taken at the base.

Samples taken from an outfall at Recreation Pond, a retention basin that collects wastewater from the base and discharges it into Silver Stream, showed 5,900 parts per trillion for PFOS.

That level was 84 times federal advisory guidelines for the chemical.

Results from a blood testing program launched by the state Department of Health last November showed that residents tested had average levels four times the national average, particularly older residents who have consumed contaminated water the longest.

The state has spent an estimated $25 million on Newburgh’s contamination, including reimbursing the city for its purchase of New York City water and funding construction of a new filtration system that is supposed to eliminate PFOS and allow Newburgh to resume using Washington Lake.

“This has to be done, and I’m glad it’s going to be done,” said Jonathan Jacobson, a city resident and candidate for City Council. “This is a good first step.”

lsparks@th-record.com