The U.S. Navy has completed the installation of six extraction wells, nearly 18,000 feet of underground piping and is in the process of constructing a state-of-the-art water treatment plant to expedite the cleanup of the Navy Grumman plume interior in Bethpage, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The Navy constructed and operates two interim systems to treat extracted groundwater in this interior portion of the plume while the system is being worked on, the DEC said.
The construction of this permanent treatment plant on Union Avenue is nearing completion and is expected to be operational by the end of September, according to the DEC.
“The full containment of this groundwater plume will prevent the further spread of contamination to water supplies in neighboring communities and provide peace of mind to local residents,” the DEC said in a community update in July.
Grumman had used the park as a chemical waste dumping site before donating the grounds to the Town of Oyster Bay in the 1960s. Parts of Bethpage Community Park have been closed to the public since the early 2000s after toxic leaks were first discovered.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation approved a review of the Phase 1 work plan for the cleanup of the former Northrop Grumman settling ponds at present-day Bethpage Community Park in March.
In July, the Town of Oyster Bay and Grumman reached an agreement to unseal court documents that will go toward assessing the general area.
The town and Grumman are also still battling in other litigation.
The plume left by Grumman stretches more than 4 miles long and 2 miles wide and extends as far as 900 feet deep.
Drinking water on Long Island is primarily obtained from a sole-source aquifer, and many have expressed concern over how the plume affects the nearly three million people the aquifer supplies.
