RSS 2.0 FeedAugust 19, 2010, Freeport-Baldwin Leader
It’s official – they’re hooked up!
New pipe hooked up, keeping the bays clean.
Finally. The Jones Beach Sewage Treatment Plant will have a new outflow pipe that will keep effluent out of the bays and place it two miles out in the ocean. The project was first proposed by Stop Polluting, Littering and Save Harbors (SPLASH) seven years ago.
On Thursday, August 12, Nassau County and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced that construction on the new pipe will begin immediately.
The pipe will run from the Jones Beach Sewage Treatment Plant, under Ocean Parkway heading two miles east to hook up to the Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant’s outflow pipe. Effluent from both facilities will then be flushed out to sea. Cedar Creek is a Nassau County facility.
Currently, the Jones Beach sewage treatment outfall pipe discharges into the Western Bays, just north of Jones Beach State Park. Those bays are a sub-region of the South Shore Estuary Reserve, which represents a large area of shallow water and fragile salt marsh islands.
The bays are the homes of marine and bird life, like snowy egret and blue herons. Hard shell clams and other mollusks live in the marshes.
Also of great concern to environmentalists was the proximity of the present outflow pipe to Zach’s Bay, where many families swim in the summertime.
“Jones Beach is the largest bathing facility in the world,” said state Assemblyman Dave McDonough, Republican of Merrick. “This will make for cleaner, healthier waters for swimmers.”
The construction cost for this project is $2 million, funded by New York State and due for completion by Memorial Day 2011. An intermunicipal agreement allows the state to hook-up to Cedar Creek at no cost; the county, in turn, will be permitted to use state land for the purpose of a 911 Center.
“It’s a win-win agreement,” said Carol Ash, state parks commissioner. “It’s important to have these public-public partnerships, because we have the capacity, as well as the money, to get things done and this needed to be done.”
County Executive Edward Mangano agreed. “This project makes so much sense and is a giant step for the environment. Jones Beach [treatment plant] shouldn’t discharge into one of the nation’s most famous beaches. We need to do our part to keep its surrounding shores and waters pristine.”
The outflow pipe was the brainchild of SPLASH and its Executive Director Rob Weltner, who has led the charge to remove effluent from the bay in order to improve habitat and water quality. Five years ago SPLASH was joined by Citizens Campaign for the Environment. Both organizations have been tireless advocates for cleaning up the Bays.
One state official said, “Whenever we slipped or tried to pull away from the project, it was the nonprofits [SPLASH and Citizens Campaign for the Environment] that reminded us what we needed to do.”
“This is a great day,” said Mr. Weltner. It just shows you what can be done if we work together to solve problems. We made a lot of phone calls, had a lot of meetings and now we are here today.”
County Legislator David Denenberg, Democrat of Merrick, another early supporter of this project, remembered coming down to Jones Beach with Mr. Weltner “seven years ago. I thought, well, it looks like we are going to have to move mountains. But in the end we got it done.”
