Business & Tech

Navy's Seamans Neck Road Water Plant Project Seeks Removal of VOCs

Planned new treatment system at Aqua NY's plant along Seaford-Levittown border

A planned new treatment system at Aqua NY’s Seamans Neck Road Water Plant along the Seaford-Levittown border is needed to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that have recently been detected in area water.

Lora Fly, Remedial Program Manager for the Navy Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic, explained during an informational meeting held Tuesday evening about its project that the new treatment system will feature large-scale versions of home filtration systems shown to reliably remove VOCs from water. VOCs are chemical compounds based on carbon and hydrogen structures that are vaporized at room temperature and turn into an air contaminant. 

Fly said the source of the VOCs is linked to the nearby former Northrop Grumman Corporation property in Bethpage, which the Navy used to own a portion of before it was closed in 2003. The Seamans Neck Road project, which the Navy is fully paying at an estimated $4.5 million, is aimed at improving drinking water for residents Aqua NY services in the northern sections of Seaford and Wantagh as well as the southeast tip of Levittown.

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The U.S. Navy’s informational meeting held at the Seaford Public Library featured artist renderings that outlined plans to construct six 20,000-pound Granular Activated Vessels enclosed within a building. The Navy is hoping to start construction of the full-scale long-term system at Aqua’s 670 Seamans Neck Rd. property in the spring with completion by next winter. The Navy is also planning to construct an interim treatment system of three 20,000-pound Granular Activated Vessels by April.

The U.S. Navy is not subject to local zoning regulations but agreed to hold Tuesday’s community informational meeting and is scheduled to appear before the Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals for a hearing regarding the proposal on Jan. 25 at 2 p.m.

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“We want to make sure we have done right by the public,” Fly said.

One of the dozens from the public who asked questions of Navy representatives at Tuesday’s informational meeting was Seaford resident Margaret Dantuono, who resides about six blocks from the Seamans Neck Road Water Plant in the Island Trees School District. Dantuono expressed concerns about the quality of drinking water in the area and whether the Navy’s project will do enough to improve conditions.

“If they can take out the contaminants the project is a good thing,” Dantuono said.

The Seamans Neck Road Plant was built in 1952 and currently features two wells operated by Aqua NY, a subsidiary of Aqua America that serves more than 152,000 residents in the New York City metropolitan area including Seaford and Wantagh as well as the southern section of Levittown. Aqua America announced last July that it was planning to sell all its regulated operations in New York to American Water Works for around $71 million. 

Aqua NY president Matt Snyder said at Tuesday’s informational meeting that the transaction with American Water Works, which is expected to close early this year, will not have any impact on the planned Seamans Neck Road project.


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