New York, NY – As many as 85,000 large residential and commercial buildings in New York City lack special valves on their water connections that could prevent hazardous substances from being sucked into the public water system, according to city records.
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Blocking Contamination In investigating the presence of a chemical, tetrachloroethylene, in the drinking water supply in parts of Queens last week, city officials identified a car wash as having contributed to the contamination at least partly because it did not have the valve installed on one of its water supply lines. The amount of the contaminant was considered too low to pose a serious health problem.
The records also show that about 26,000 buildings in the city represent an especially high risk because factories, gasoline stations or businesses that handle hazardous materials housed in those buildings have not installed the device, called a backflow prevention valve.
State law has required that the device be installed on certain categories of buildings since 1981. [nytimes]