PITCAIRN -- A North Country Assemblyman has taken up the case of salt contamination of water supplies in the St. Lawrence County Town of Pitcairn.

Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush, R, Black River, is calling on officials to get to the bottom of what is believed by some to be Department of Transportation road salt finding its way into drinking water in Pitcairn. The roughly half a dozen homes affected there are near a DOT salt storage facility.

“I am calling for a coordinated effort between local and county officials to determine the source of the water contamination,” Blankenbush said in a press release.

“I’m also calling on the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to support local officials and help in solving this issue,” he said.

The assemblyman, whose district includes the southwestern St. Lawrence County towns of DeKalb, Gouverneur, Hermon, Russell, Edwards, Fowler and Pitcairn, noted that in New York State, “a local county may call upon state agencies if it cannot properly solve the issue and needs assistance,” so he says he is “also calling upon Gov. Cuomo to send his newly-formed water quality rapid response team to assist in the investigations. We must identify and investigate the source of the water contamination, and resolve it.

“This is isn’t about whose fault it is, or about getting the chance to say ‘I told you so,’ it’s for the sake of the people living in these towns, and providing them with a basic essential such as clean, safe and drinkable water,” Blankenbush said.