ALBANY, N.Y. -- Some heated exchanges took place at the capitol Wednesday during the state Assembly and Senate hearing on water quality in New York. State lawmakers had tough questions for the top officials in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration regarding their response to the communities dealing with PFOA and PFOS contamination in their water supply.

“Did you feel any legal obligation that their water exceeded EPA guidelines at the time you knew it?” asked Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, R-Melrose.

The questions came at the first of these two joint Senate and Assembly public hearings, but the talk was dominated by the contamination of drinking water in Hoosick Falls, as well as issues that have developed in Petersburgh and Newburgh.

Similar to a hearing in August, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker defended his response to initial reports of a PFOA contamination in Hoosick Falls.

“We follow the guidelines and when [the PFOA] exceeded, we worked with the county and the village,” said Zucker. “There are letters from the mayor of Hoosick Falls saying we are working with them.”

State lawmakers were not convinced.

“This is simple: Would you have let your mother drink that water for 18 months?” asked McLaughlin.

Lawmakers were especially skeptical over the effort by the Cuomo administration to blame the U.S. EPA for shifting guidelines for PFOA safety. It was the EPA that first advised residents to not drink the water. 

However, the Cuomo administration continued to press the EPA to expand testing of all public water supplies or, as an alternative, have the Legislature pass a measure to do just that. Cuomo's office has also worked to bolster its clean water credentials, signing a bill this week that would require New York schools to test for lead in drinking water. 

“The more we learn about our water in all different dimensions, the more we have reason to be concerned,” said Cuomo. “We want to start with our children, and that starts with testing the water in the schools that are coming out of the fountains.”

The next hearing is scheduled for September 12 on Long Island.​n.