Thousands of residents in South Farmingdale, Bethpage and Massapequa could face a rising water bill unless a group responsible for environmental pollution clean up its act.
On Sept. 2, Sen. Charles Schumer and the South Farmingdale Water District called on the U.S. Navy and the Department of Justice to prevent significant water bill increases for residents by chipping in for the construction a water treatment facility to filter and purify the ground water impacted by the Bethpage plume.
The water district has borrowed close to $5 million from the Town of Oyster Bay to construct the water treatment facility. Repaying the bond will cost consumers $1.5 million each year over the course of the loan, and Schumer said consumers should not be burdened by something they did not create, adding that the federal government must step up quickly in order to prevent these costs from being passed on to ratepayers, as is expected to occur in the near future.
“South Farmingdale Water District consumers didn’t cause this mess and they shouldn’t have to pay to clean it up,” said Schumer. “It is bad enough that consumers have to deal with the Grumman plume — they shouldn’t have to pay extra to do so.”
The senator said the Navy has a years-old obligation to reimburse the water district for the capital costs, operation and maintenance of the water treatment facility, which was constructed at plant No. 3 at 4090 Hicksville Rd. in Seaford.
The U.S. Navy operated the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant at Grumman in Bethpage for several decades, which resulted in soil and significant groundwater contamination containing volatile organic compounds. The water district, as well as other neighboring water districts, were approached in November 2000 by the U.S. Navy relative to a widespread groundwater contamination plume flowing south toward more than 20 public drinking wells that serve over 250,000 Nassau County residents across South Farmingdale, Bethpage, Massapequa and Wantagh Water Districts.
As per their contingency plan in connection with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the Navy agreed that if contamination from their site was identified in the outpost monitoring wells, they would pay for all future costs that water suppliers would incur for the required treatment facilities or abandonment and replacement of the respective wells. In 2004, monitoring reports indicated that plant No. 1 and No. 3 were contaminated from the naval plant site at levels above the values agreed to by the Navy, DEC and water district.
In 2010, water district determined that it could no longer wait to receive the settlement from the Navy and was approved by the Town of Oyster Bay to bond up to $18 million to design and construct the necessary treatment facilities at both Plant No. 1 and No. 3, with the former starting in late March 2010, and the latter in 2012. If the treatment facilities were not constructed in time, it was possible that water district would be forced to close down or restrict wells at Plant No. 1 and Plant No. 3.
The district pursued a reimbursement settlement with the Navy for Plant No. 1 and received $14.5 million to cover all necessary costs in 2010. Now, Schumer said a settlement must be reached on Plant No. 3. The delay has caused the water district to make its final payment for construction. If reimbursement is not made immediately, water rates for all consumers will increase.
“We are here to protect the taxpayer. It’s that simple. They shouldn’t have to pay for these treatment plants,” Schumer said. “The Navy knows they need to pay, and they’ve said so. Now they need to stop dragging their feet and pay up.”
If the treatment facilities were not constructed in time, there was the potential that the District would have had to close down or restrict wells at both Plants No. 1 and 3. The four wells at these two sites provide nearly 40 percent of the district’s well capacity, which are needed to meet existing water supply and fire flow demands. The loss of these wells could adversely impact the district’s ability to meet peak and emergency pumping requirements, thereby impacting the ability to deliver an adequate water supply to its 45,000 consumers.
“I will do what’s necessary to get the Navy to attend to this immediately,” said Schumer. “Our consumers should not be burdened with these additional costs, and the District should not have to be put in this situation.”
