$500M Sewage Project To Improve Water Quality In Nassau: Report

WANTAGH, NY—A sewage project worth $500 million over a three year period is being called one of the most significant environmental projects for Long Island's South Shore in the last 50 years.

“This is the boldest and most comprehensive resiliency initiative in the history of Long Island," Nassau County Executive Laura Curran told Newsday.

According to the newspaper, Nassau County officials and the state Department of Environmental Conservation have plans to start next year laying new sewage pipes from the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant through East Rockaway and traveling 7.3 miles under Sunrise Highway from Lynbrook to Wantagh and out an ocean outflow pipe at Cedar Creek.

The project will reroute 55 million gallons of treated sewage pumped daily from Bay Park and remove 99 percent of nitrogen from the Western Bays. County bonds and grants will pay for the work.

“Long Island’s environment is at a tipping point and requires immediate, corrective action in order to restore Nassau’s water quality and help protect thousands of residents, small businesses and critical infrastructure from the next major storm,” Curran told the newspaper.

The county has also reached out to more than 40 property owners regarding easements needed to tunnel and lay pipe 40 feet underground, according to the newspaper.

A time frame has not been set when crews will have to open 23 work zones on Sunrise Highway. Officials are planning mostly night and weekend work, with some 55-hour weekend closures, but are aiming to keep two lanes open in each direction at all times.

Nassau County is expected to hold more public hearings on the project in March, the newspaper reported.

To read the full story in Newsday, click here.