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1-million sewage settlement for Bay Park

By JENNIFER SMITH

June 16, 2011

Environmental violations at Nassau County's Bay Park sewage treatment plant dating back to 2007 will end up costing taxpayers $1 million, according to a settlement between the county and the state.

The malfunction-plagued plant processes nearly half of Nassau's sewage and has long been the focus of complaints from residents and environmental advocates. Some blame effluent from the plant for poor water quality in the back bays behind Long Beach.

The settlement with state regulators largely concerns violations last fall, when plant operators repeatedly discharged partially treated solids into Reynolds Channel.
Officials with the state Department of Environmental Conservation said Nassau failed to maintain equipment at the aging facility and report illegal discharges. Nassau legislators approved the settlement on June 6.

Under the agreement, the state will fine Nassau $500,000 for the violations. The county must correct equipment and management failures that caused the problems -- something Nassau officials say they're already doing -- and spend another $500,000 to study the feasibility of building an ocean outfall pipe for the plant, which discharges 58 million gallons of treated sewage per day.

Nassau officials blamed the previous administration under Democrat Tom Suozzi for the "years of neglect" and said in a statement that "great strides have been made to correct the damage of the past" since Republican County Executive Edward Mangano took office in 2010.

Among the changes: new plant management and the installation of temporary equipment to remove treated solids until long-term fixes can be made.

Nassau public works spokesman Mike Martino said the county's proposed 2011 capital plan includes $80 million for upgrades at Bay Park, built in the late 1940s and later expanded. The county usually spends $10 million to $15 million a year on projects at the plant, he said.

Long Beach resident Scott Bochner applauded the $500,000 feasibility study and the county's recent response to the problem. "They're doing a great job," said Bochner, who posted YouTube videos of the brown plume last fall and has lobbied the county for fixes.

He and Nassau Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) said it's too bad the penalty for mismanagement by the plant's previous operators would be borne by taxpayers.
"They were the ones who didn't receive notice of these violations last year, and now they're the ones who have to pay," said Denenberg, who has sponsored a bill that would require public notification of future permit violations at sewage treatment plants.

DEC Regional Director Peter Scully said the penalty was appropriate given the severity of the violations. An additional $500,000 penalty will be suspended so long as the county complies with the order.

"The impact of any penalty on county taxpayers was a serious consideration," Scully said. "But we think the penalty is fair and will result in a significant benefit to the environment and to the resource."

Scully said it's hard to quantify the environmental impact of the violations on the bays.

Pols bicker over Bay Park sewage plant

BY CELESTE HADRICK

April 10, 2011

Nassau Republicans and Democrats are fighting to take credit for $3.4 million in repairs to the county's troubled Bay Park Sewage Treatment plant while blaming each other for its problems, including offensive odors and an illegal sludge discharge.

A brown plume of sludge released by the plant into Reynolds channel became an Internet star last fall when videos of it were posted on YouTube.

The county legislature last week approved contracts totaling $3.4 million for replacing equipment at the plant, purchasing supplies and bringing in "gravity belt thickeners" to mitigate the sludge discharge.

County Executive Edward Mangano, a Republican who took office in January 2010, said the contracts will "help reverse years of mismanagement" at the plant. "I was shocked to discover the depth of neglect of the county's infrastructure," Mangano said in a news release.

But Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) said the Bay Park work had been proposed by Mangano's Democratic predecessor, County Executive Thomas Suozzi, in his 2010 capital plan, which was approved by county lawmakers in December 2009. Money was borrowed in April 2010 to pay for the repairs, he said.

"These projects should have been started over a year ago because the funding is in place," Denenberg said. "Unfortunately, these projects are just being awarded now and, worse, for most of last year, the Bay Park plant was spewing contaminated effluent into Reynolds channel."

Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin responded, "The county executive acknowledges that he inherited a mess from the Democrats."

The Bay Park plant is in the legislature's 7th District, where freshman Republican Howard Kopel of Lawrence ousted incumbent Democrat Jeff Toback in 2009 by campaigning about the plant's problems. Both parties have targeted the district in the coming November elections.

Minority Leader Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) angered Republican lawmakers last month when she sent a letter on her county stationary to 7th District residents. She wrote Kopel "did an 'about face' " on promises to stop sewage from Lawrence and Cedarhurst from going to Bay Park. "I believe you have the right to know that Mr. Kopel has changed his position and that his reversal may carry dire consequences," she said.

Kopel responded he has never changed his position that he will not allow additional sewage at Bay Park until the plant is operating as a "first-class" facility.

"I'm very proud of what we've been doing at Bay Park. The plant was in appalling shape. We've invested many millions of dollars in buying new equipment and hiring people," he said.

"I understand what this is about," he said of Yatauro's letter. "They want to recapture the legislature. I get that. But this is just nasty."

Fix for plant will really stink

BY SID CASSESE

March 14, 2011

Residents around the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway, who have been living with a foul smell for decades, can expect it to briefly get worse as the county begins work on a major part of the problem.

County officials said spoiled sludge in tanks, called digesters, is a constant source of plant smells.

"The removal of this material will in the short term increase odors. In the long term, however, odor from the digesters will be reduced," said Shila Shaw-Gavnoudias, the commissioner of the Nassau County Department of Public Works.

The plant was completed in 1949 and the tanks have been refurbished twice, the last time in 1996, officials said. The digester work is expected to cost about $15 million -- part of $110 million projected for the plant between now and mid-2014.

Some residents said last week that they can put up with increased odor if it leads to an overall reduction in smell. But few thought it would be a major step to solve the plant's problems.

"It's the beginning of improvement, but really only the tip of the iceberg," said Kristin Ochtera, spokeswoman for the Green Bay Parkers, an area environmental group that has been at odds with various county administrations about problems with the plant.

"Several other things must be done as well," she said, "including cleaning and keeping clean the water in the bay and other nearby waterways where fish and plant life are being poisoned from plant seepage."

Debbie Alvino of nearby Island Park said, "Sometimes the smell even gets into our neighborhood. I hope the work they're going to do will make it smell better and be healthier."

County Executive Edward Mangano said he is working on that. "Every day, my administration remains focused on reversing the years of neglect at the Bay Park facility," he said.

Schumer seeks money for Bay Park

BY CELESTE HADRICK

December 1, 2010

Prompted by a continuing sludge release into Reynolds Channel from the Bay Park sewage treatment plant, Sen. Charles Schumer again has asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency to reimburse Nassau County $20 million for sewer construction projects that date to the mid-1980s.

Schumer had written to the former EPA administrator more than two years ago, requesting reimbursement. He renewed his request this past May and this week wrote to current EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

"Every day the EPA fails to pay the millions it owes Nassau County, Reynolds Channel grows more and more toxic and Nassau taxpayers are more at risk for funding the upgrades needed to fix the problem," Schumer said in a news release.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said in October that the Bay Park plant had been illegally discharging sludge into the channel since at least March. Last week, a group of activists said a brown plume has been visible in the water since summer. A video of the plume taken in October has been posted on Youtube.com.

Nassau has promised a temporary fix for the sludge discharge by the middle of this month. The EPA press office did not return a call for comment Wednesday..

Activists want Bay Park sewage discharges to stop

BY CHAU LAM

November 23, 2010

A group of environmentalists, residents and local politicians Tuesday demanded that Nassau County immediately take steps to stop a county-owned and operated sewage treatment plant from illegally discharging sludge into Reynolds Channel, a practice that has been ongoing since at least October.

The Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant, which treats nearly half of Nassau's sewage, has been violating state environmental laws by allowing "massive amounts of solids" to be released after treatment into Reynolds Channel, according to the state Department Environmental Conservation.

"During the day, the plant occasionally allows a large concentration of solids to bypass that results in a brown plume. That brown plume can be seen a quarter mile down the channel," said William Spitz, regional water manager for the DEC. "At the outfall, it smells like sewage."

Mike Martino, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, said the administration is in the process of signing a contract with Synagro Northeast to provide temporary equipment at the facility.

Delivery of two mobile units, called gravity belt thickeners, is expected by mid-December, according to Spitz and Martino. The units are designed to separate solids from wastewater, after which only the water is discharged into the channel.

Residents said they have seen the water in Reynolds Channel turn brown since the summer. Spitz said the DEC became aware of the brown plumes on Oct. 18, and DEC inspectors examined the facility the next day. No single factor or failed piece of equipment caused the brown plumes, he said.

"Instead, it seemed several critical components of the plant were either off-line (in disrepair) or operating at only a fraction of rated capacity," Spitz said.

On Oct. 28, Nassau responded to DEC demands by agreeing to truck solids to Cedar Creek Sewage Treatment Plant and to begin using a chemical coagulant additive to help separate solids from wastewater.

The twin solutions, however, did not resolve the problem at the Bay Park plant, Spitz said.

On Nov. 4, the DEC issued a formal notice of violation against Nassau, again insisting that emergency measures be undertaken, Spitz said. On Nov. 18, Spitz said, county officials informed his office that the gravity belt thickeners, which would help reduce the volume of sludge, would be brought in.

"We are cautiously optimistic when all those elements are brought to bear, the brown plumes will stop," Spitz said.

The environmentalists, residents and politicians are urging the public to sign an online petition calling on county lawmakers to hold a public hearing.

Leg. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) said he has repeatedly called for a hearing but so far none has taken place.

"I repeat my demands for an investigation, a hearing and for full disclosure of what is going on," he said.

Natural World: Seaweed a symptom in Hempstead Bay?

BY JENNIFER SMITH

November 13, 2010

On a recent crisp November day, a boatload of scientists rounded Point Lookout to find the beach there covered with a thick layer of emerald seaweed.

It was the first time some had seen the seaweed explosion for themselves - sheet upon sheet of an algae called ulva lactuca that many consider the main symptom of pollution afflicting Hempstead Bay.

"Two to three feet deep of ulva - that's crazy," said Anne Cooper Doherty, a graduate student who works with Stony Brook University associate professor Bruce Brownawell, an environmental chemist and water quality expert.

Mats of the bright green ulva stretched several hundred feet between jetties. As it dried, the seaweed formed a gray moonscape-like blanket on much of the beach. On warm days when the wind blows toward nearby homes, neighbors complain the stench is unbearable. Some, such as activist Morris Kramer, worry that hydrogen sulfide produced as it decays could be harmful.

Residents and environmental advocates believe nitrogen and other nutrients in sewage from several nearby plants have triggered overgrowths of ulva that smother the bay bottom and wash up onshore near Jones Inlet. Responding to those concerns, Doherty, Brownawell and several other researchers on the boat are embarking on an intense study of Hempstead Bay to determine what exactly ails this fragile complex of channels and marsh islands.

New York State considers Hempstead Bay "impaired" by pathogens swept into the bay via contaminated runoff. More recently, nitrogen was also listed as a suspected contaminant because of the seaweed growth; potential sources include four municipal sewage treatment plants that discharge to Hempstead Bay, as well as stormwater runoff.

"Every time I've been out in spring or summer the ulva has been here," said Larry Swanson, associate dean of Stony Brook's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. "It's been a decade-long discussion."

Ulva tends to thrive in nutrient-heavy waters and is sometimes used as an indicator species to monitor pollution trends. In large quantities, ulva can harm marine life, sucking oxygen from the water as it decomposes, but it's not clear if that has happened here. And little evidence exists so far linking the ulva to sewage because nitrogen levels in Hempstead Bay have not been measured for nearly 30 years.

That's where the scientists come in. To help plan their research, they got an expert tour of the waterways from marina owner Tom Doheny, a former conservation commissioner with the Town of Hempstead.

"This is where the two tides from Rockaway and Jones Inlet meet," Doheny said as his 21-foot motor boat cut through Reynolds Channel, past the Lido Beach Golf Club.
Doheny piloted the scientists past delicate wetland hassocks, up into the back bays and past industrial waterfronts off East Rockaway and Oceanside.

Of prime interest: the underwater sewage outfalls that each day discharge at least 58 million gallons of treated effluent to Hempstead Bay.

Local concerns about sewage reached new heights this fall, as the seaweed piled up high and smelly off Point Lookout and suspicious plumes of brown water were spotted near the outfall pipe for Nassau County's Bay Park treatment plant. Last month those fears were confirmed when state officials said the plant - which treats nearly half of Nassau's sewage - had been illegally dumping sludge into Reynolds Channel since March.

To get a better idea of how water and contaminants flow through the back bays, Stony Brook professor Roger Flood plans to map out the area's underwater topography. On this run, he sat in the back of the boat and tapped away at a sturdy laptop, testing programs and collecting basic GPS information on the various marsh islands. More precise measurements will be plugged into computer models later to help scientists understand how quickly sewage and other pollutants are swept out to the Atlantic.

Brownawell, who has studied sewage-related contaminants in nearby Jamaica Bay, said he was surprised at the lack of academic attention to Hempstead Bay given the large volume of sewage that ends up there. He and Doherty plan to track where the effluent ends up by testing sediment for traces of hair conditioner, fabric softeners and other products commonly found in sewage.

He plans to sample sediments in the northern portions of the bay to check if effluent gets stuck back there instead of flushing out on the tides.
"We'll be looking away from the outfalls," said Brownawell. His prediction: "We'll see a sewage signal all the way out to the Great South Bay."

State: Nassau plant illegally discharging sludge

BY CHAU LAM

October 21, 2010

A sewage treatment plant owned and operated by Nassau County has been illegally discharging sludge into Reynolds Channel since at least March, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said Thursday.

The Bay Park Sewage treatment plant has been sporadically discharging more suspended solids than allowed by environmental law. Many of these particles are supposed to be separated out from treated wastewater and retained at the plant.

"We determined so far it's not raw sewage," said William Spitz regional water manager for the DEC. "It's treated, disinfected sewage."

The DEC has been aware of the illegal discharge for months, Spitz said, but not to the extent of the problem as reported over the weekend.

On Oct. 16, the county-owned plant discharged 3.0 parts per million of solid materials, ten times the legal limit of 0.3 parts per million, according to a report issued by Richard Cotugno, superintendent of Nassau County sewage plants. On Oct. 17, the discharge level reached 2.9 parts per million.

In an e-mail sent yesterday, Mike Martino, a spokesman for County Executive Edward Mangano, said Nassau is working with the DEC to fix the problem. However, Martino did not explain the illegal discharging or answer other questions.

"We inherited an aging and neglected sewer facility from the prior administration, and have taken extraordinary steps to reverse years of neglect," Martino said. "It will take sometime for all the capital improvements to be implemented."

Negotiations have been going on since May, said Spitz, who could not discuss details. The DEC initially became aware of the illegal discharge problem from the county's monthly report. "As an enforcement agency, we can fine them," Spitz said. "We can't shut the plant down but we will use every tool in the box to bring about compliance."

Meanwhile, residents have to cope with the sight and smell of sludge. Standing near West Bay Drive in Long Beach yesterday afternoon, resident Scott Bochner could see a large ring of brown sludge moving across Reynolds Channel in what he said has been a regular sight.

"The brown sludge easily extends almost the width of the channel and three football fields down the channel," he said. "You can't see anything but deep, dark brown sludge."And the stench, he said, is obnoxious.

Nassau districts, nonprofits oppose sewage fee plan

By KEITH HERBERT AND WILLIAM MURPHY

October 15, 2010

Officials representing libraries, fire districts and school districts in Nassau County joined Democratic county legislators Friday to oppose a plan that would impose a new fee for sewage service on local governments and nonprofit organizations, including hospitals and colleges.

County Executive Edward Mangano said the fee of up to 1 cent per gallon would generate $38 million annually when fully implemented in 2012 and was necessary to balance the sewer budget. He said it was in line with other jurisdictions in the state.

However, the affected groups and Democratic legislators said the fee amounted to a new tax and said it contradicted Mangano's campaign promise not to increase property taxes.

The proposed fee was detailed in the county's 2011 budget that was unveiled last month. The budget is to be debated Monday by the Nassau legislature.

Mary Jo O'Hagan, president of the Baldwin School Board, said that based on last year's water use, a 1-cent-per-gallon charge would cost the district almost $132,000 a year. "And that would equate to the salary and benefits of two full-time staff members," she said. "So this is really a two-teacher tax and that money would come right out of the pockets of the taxpayers in our school district. So I don't see where the savings is."

Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) invited O'Hagan and others to a news conference Friday outside the North Merrick firehouse on Camp Avenue to demand that Mangano pull back the proposal. "Passing along taxes to the districts is not freezing taxes," Denenberg said.

The districts and nonprofits, including colleges and some hospitals, currently pay a fee for water usage to a local water company or water district, as do the owners of private homes and businesses. The county does not provide water.

However, these districts and nonprofits, which officials say account for about 25 percent of all county sewer use, do not pay for sewer service - a mostly county-provided function.

Home and business owners pay a sewer fee as part of their county property tax bill, but nonprofits and other government taxing districts do not pay property taxes.
Mangano said Democrats "are complacent with charging homeowners and businesses higher sewer rates than they should be paying. My reform will lower rates for homeowners and businesses, while ending the practice of providing free sewage treatment for just a select few at the expense of all."

The $38 million raised by the new fee would cover the cost of the Nassau County Sewer and Storm Water Finance Authority's $28 million deficit, and the balance would be "returned in the form of a lower rate" to homeowners and commercial property owners who pay for sewer service, Mangano said.

O'Hagan, who is also vice president of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, said the proposal "was just an attempt to offload his own responsibilities by shifting costs." And equating water use with sewer use was unfair to schools, she said, because "a substantial amount of our water use is to irrigate [athletic] fields."

The new fee would not apply to religious groups but would apply to buildings owned by town and village government, said a Mangano spokesman.
Town of Hempstead spokesman Michael Deery said the town has not calculated how much it would affect its budget.

Aides to Mangano said fire districts would not be charged for water used for fighting fires, but Denenberg said it was impossible for anyone to determine what part of a firehouse water supply went to fill the tanks on trucks and how much was used for firehouse operations.

Residents react to sewage smell
East Rockaway, Bay Park, neighbors urge county officials to come up with solutions

BY CLARISSA HAMLIN

November 10, 2010

The smells issuing from the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant are just one of the concerns of nearby residents. Community members are urging county officials to come up with a long-term solutions for not only the odors at the facility, but also the problems with its discharge.

Richard Brennan, president of the Bay Park Civic Association, wants residents to be aware of what he calls the plant’s “poor” condition. As reported in last week’s Herald, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is investigating the plant’s release of effluent and suspended solids into Reynolds Channel last month.

Last year, Cedarhurst and Lawrence diverted the effluent to the county facility in Bay Park. Before the consolidation, the Bay Park plant processed 60 million gallons of sewage per day. With the addition of Cedarhurst and Lawrence, the plant processes another 2 million gallons daily. Bay Park is permitted by the DEC to process up to 72 million gallons a day.

“Something has to be done about this problem,” Brennan said. “Whether the discharge is semi-treated or treated, it must be addressed immediately.” He said that the excess sewage poses a danger to other area waterways in the area, and that the odor is beginning to affect more homes. Brennan said that his worst fear is that sewage itself will back up into those homes.

“The odor is unbearable,” said Bay Park resident Judy Caraciollo. “The plant is our backyard and we have made the calls about the plant’s problems.”

Brennan noted that members of the civic association walked through the plant with Nassau County Legislator Howard Kopel and Town of Hempstead Councilman Anthony Santino last spring. According to Brennan, the association, along with members of Freeport’s Operation Stop Polluting littering and Save Harbors, or SPLASH, or have contacted the county several times and was told that the county is trying to find the funding to fix the facility’s problems.

Patricia Kearney, another civic association member, said that she is angry about the discharge of what she calls “settable solids,” solids that should settle at tank bottoms. “We are a community that uses the local waters heavily,” Kearney said. The bay is in poor condition and this kind of incident only makes it worse.” She said that the association hopes to meet with the Nassau County Department of Public Works to discuss last month’s excess discharge and any planned facility upgrades or repairs. “Maybe this incident will be a wake-up call to the county that sewage treatment is no place to be pinching pennies and cutting corners,” she said.

Kristin Ochtera, an East Rockaway Board of Education trustee and a member of the Green Bay Parkers, a group that fought the consolidation of the Cedarhurst, Lawrence and Bay Park plants, said, “Our position has always been that the plant is too big and too vital to Nassau County and the people around it to perform under expectations. It should be state-of-the-art. We always maintained that the plant is not ready to take on anything extra.”

The Green Bay Parkers have urged the county to take a closer look at the plant, and according to Ochtera, brown, cloudy effluent has been visible since September. “Even if they say it is treated and sanitized, it does not make any environmentalists, community members, or parents any happier to see the brown effluent … the waterways are literally dying away,” Ochtera said.

“This is devastating to people who rely on a clean and healthy water body to make a living,” said Robert Weltner, president of Operation SPLASH. “The system designed to protect the bay has broken down and caused brown sludge. We understand these problems happen, but they need preventive maintenance. Though it is difficult, they should try to make the effluent as clean as possible, which the plant is required to do.”

Michael Martino, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, said the suspended solids are treated and disinfected. “We are working with the DEC to make further improvements to ensure safe discharge …,” Martino said. “It will take some time for all the capital improvements to be implemented.”

For his part, Kopel said that he met with Shila Shah-Gavnoudias, Nassau County commissioner of public works, recently to discuss immediate solutions to fix the problem, describing the Bay Park plant as a top priority.

In an Oct. 28 letter to William Spitz, the DEC regional water manager, Shah-Gavnoudias wrote that contracts to repair sewage treatment units at the facility had been approved by the County Legislature at the end of October. The county plans to immediately transport a portion of the solids from the facility to the Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant for treatment and add a chemical coagulant to the plant’s primary treatment system to cause the solids to settle more regularly.

“We acknowledge that this is a problem that needs to be corrected and we will correct it,” Gavnoudias wrote. “The County is committed to resolving this problem and improving the operations at the Bay Park STP.”

DEC says sewage plant pumping surplus of solid
Investigation looks into excess of cloudy effluent into Reynold's Channel

BY MARY MALLOY

November 4, 2010

The county-owned Bay Park sewage treatment plant can hold a average of 70 million gallons of sewage daily, according to William Spitz, Regional Water Manager for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. But recently, DEC officials report that the plant discharged an excess of cloudy effluent or flow at the near East Rockaway facility.

The DEC’s investigation is looking into discharge incidents involving excess amounts of suspended solids that created cloud plumes in the effluent released into Reynolds Channel on Oct. 16 and 17. The department became aware of the problem on Oct. 18.

“The plant has a permit limit, which is established for them,” Spitz said. “We have not gotten the October report on the discharge, but from what we saw, we suspect they are discharging ten times over the limit.”

Following the plant’s policy, those solids are dewatered, stabilized, and trudged off site for disposal. According to the department, the discharge is disinfected before it is released in the “administrative safety zone,” which is the area surrounding the plant’s outfall pipe in Reynolds Channel.

“This is not raw sewage discharge, and preliminary tests reveal these solids were already treated,” said Michael Martino, press secretary for Nassau County executive Edward Mangano.

When clouds plumes appear in the effluent, the concentration of suspended solids is much higher than allowed by environmental law — 30 milligrams per litter of suspended solids for this facility. “At the point where clouds are created, it seems to us that the plant is momentarily and sporadically being overwhelmed with concentration in their tanks,” Spitz said.

And Spitz said that though Reynolds Channel is very “well flushed“, too many solids have the potential to degrade the water environment, which there are limits set to remove any contaminants using technology techniques. “We can’t solve the problem because this is not our plant,” Spitz said. “What we can do is address the problem with enforcement action. This plant has a number of components in need of repair and rehab, which it is operating less than sufficient to be able to remove solids to comply with their permit.”

As reported in the Herald, the Nassau County Legislature voted in June of last year to transfer waste from sewage plants in Lawrence and Cedarhurst to this Bay Park facility, which the Town of Hempstead voted to sue the county to stop the consolidation. For the last six to eight months, the county is implementing emergency measures and formulating long-term solutions to improve the plant’s operation, said Spitz.

“We are working with the DEC to make further improvement to ensure safe discharge,” Martino said. “We inherited an aging and neglected sewer facility from the prior administration, and have taken extraordinary steps to reverse years of neglect. It will take sometime for all the capital improvements to be implemented.”

Spitz met with the Nassau County Commissioner of Public Works, Shila Shah-Gavnoudias, along with other county and environmental officials to begin measures to eliminate the clouded effluent discharge and restore the plant’s operation to 100 percent efficiency. Right now, the DEC is waiting for sewage sampling results from the plant for October.

In the meantime, the county is working on two immediate corrective measures to combat the “plume” problem due to the excess solids, which includes transporting a portion of the solids from the facility to the Cedar Creek WPCP for treatment and adding a chemical coagulant to the plant’s primary treatment system to cause the solids to settle more regularly. In an Oct. 28 letter from the county public works department to Spitz and the DEC, Gavnoudias states that these immediate measures will be followed by more than $25 million dollars worth of capital construction at the facility to “improve the plant’s ability to remove solids and eliminating the cloudy effluent.”

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