The city of Newburgh is making a major move against the government in its fight to clean up the potentially cancer-causing chemical PFOS in its water supply.

The city has filed a lawsuit against the Air Force, New York state and the operators of Stewart Air National Guard Base.

They claim all have a responsibility to clean up the contaminated Washington Lake.

The Department of Defense determined that the carcinogenic chemical PFOS had leaked into the city’s Washington Lake Reservoir on the New Windsor-town of Newburgh line.

Washington Lake supplied water for more than 27,000 people, but since the discovery, the city has shut off its water supply from the lake and has been getting water from the Catskill Aqueduct and has been pressuring the government to pay for the cleanup.