The Hicksville Water District is warning residents to proceed with caution when engaging with private water testing companies, saying some companies are looking for profits rather than the health of locals.
The district said it was recently contacted by a local resident about a water testing kit that they received in the mail from a private company based in Bay Shore.
“The companies that send out these testing kits to residents are simply trying to pressure them into purchasing their home-water filters based on questionable water-sample results,” Hicksville Water District Chairman Nicholas Brigandi said.
According to the water district, the resident who notified the district of the scam received a text message from the filter company saying that they should be concerned about their water and that they would send a representative to her home with a “special filter system” to fix it.
The company then told the resident that they would only speak about their results verbally over the phone and not in writing, to which the resident denied, the district said.
The water district said private companies’ test results are not verified by the Nassau County Health Department, as opposed to the tests conducted by the district, which are verified.
Brigandi also highlighted the inaccuracy of the tests and added that the water district has invested over $50 million in the installation of the state-of-the-art treatment technology.
“Those tests collect a couple of milliliters of water while we collect gallons of water to be sampled each time we do it,” he said.
Brigandi said the district’s mission is to provide high-quality water to residents, which is evident from its quality reports.
The district’s oldest water quality report, dating back to 2012, is on its website. The 2024 report, released in April, states that the district’s water had no violations and that each of its 14 wells is sampled multiple times per year.
The district said it tests its water for more than 170 parameters at treatment facilities designed by engineers and approved by the health department. It budgets more than $250,000 per year for testing, and each round of testing costs over $2,000.
The water district recommends contacting them and filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and the office of the New York State Attorney General if they receive a testing kit that they suspect to be fraudulent.
The Hicksville Water District covers all of Hicksville and portions of Bethpage, East Meadow, Jericho, Levittown, Syosset, and Westbury.
