Farmingdale Mulls Water Department Proposals

The , after receiving the final proposals from all bidders, is taking their time to carefully select the village's new water provider.

"We're doing a complete analysis and projections of what costs would be in four, five, 10 years," said Mayor Ralph Ekstrand.

The Village is ahead of schedule by almost a decade. Although getting help in running the water supply is a a toxic plume is not due to be an issue until 2020, said Ekstrand.

"We're ahead of the 8-ball," he said, as the board has ample time to ask as many questions and get plenty of input before the decision is made.

Bethpage Water District, , and Suffolk County Water Authority have submitted their final proposals and the board is considering all possibilities. The board has not shown favor for any of the proposed plans.

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"One [option] is buying the water from another entity like South Farmingdale and if we can still run the water department with that…that would be great. We could keep everybody and maintain our system," Ekstrand said at a May work session. Bethpage's proposal was reportedly similar.

The second option, Suffolk County's proposal, would require special legislation to be approved from Albany. Ekstrand said that if Suffolk County is chosen and assembly and senates are on break, the finalization may not happen for several months. That option would also make Farmingdale the first Nassau County village to outsource their water from Suffolk.