Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) secured $445,000 in County funding to replace an aging backup generator for the Village of Manorhaven pump station. The Community Development Block Grant was secured in part due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
Sewage capacity has greatly increased due to the pandemic because residents are home more because of imposed restrictions and social distancing concerns. Both the Manorhaven Village Board of Trustees and Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton agreed that this generator is critical to avoid the possibility of COVID virus contaminated sewage backing up and flowing into basements of homes and businesses should the decades-old existing generator fail.
“This is such a critical infrastructure need that will prevent a potential health disaster, which is especially urgent given concerns surrounding the coronavirus,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “I am so grateful that the funding for this grant was unanimously approved by the Legislature.”
The grant will fund the purchase and installation of a 200KW diesel fuel generator to ensure the Village’s pump station remains operational during power failures. While this is a critical infrastructure need on its own, the possibility of bodily waste potentially carrying coronavirus contaminants raised greater concerns for the health and safety of Village staff and contractors working on or near the pump station, as well as residents if sewage backed up into homes during a power failure if the pump station was not operating.
The entire Village of Manorhaven is a low-lying area along Manhasset Bay so it is prone to flooding during severe storms, especially when tides are high. The new generator will be placed outside of the pump station on an elevated platform well above the one-hundred-year floodplain level.
“We have been making substantial improvements and upgrades to the Village’s entire sewer system over the past several years, but having reliable emergency backup power to our pump station is the most important enhancement we could possibly make,” Village of Manorhaven Mayor Jim Avena said. “Thanks to Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton and the entire Nassau County Legislature, we will be able to rest easy that our pump station will remain operational during power outages.”
The new generator and its housing unit will be installed in 2021. Feel free to contact Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton’s office with questions or comments about this or any other topic at 516-571-6211or dderiggiwhitton@nassaucountyny.gov.
—Submitted by the Office of Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton
