Local Civic Group Honors Those Who Have Helped Improve Cedar Creek Plant

As a result of seeing major improvements to Wantagh’s Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant, a local civic group recently honored over a half dozen people that have contributed to the enhancement of the facility.

The  (WSHA) Wantagh/Seaford Homeowner’s Association made recognitions at its May 26 meeting, which included a presentation of how poor conditions at the plant used to be. Cedar Creek was previously issued with safety violations from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation including going over its discharge limit three times in 2007 and twice in 2009. Last year Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano announced that he would deliver $10 million in new equipment to the plant to begin to repair what he described as a "neglected" facility.

Mangano was one of the honorees at the May 26 meeting along with Phil Franco and Mark Salerno from the Cedar Creek Health Risk Assessment Committee of the WSHA. Also recognized were the staff of the plant that raised concerns about the facility’s conditions. Other honorees included reporters Chris Twarowski from the Long Island Press and Laura Schofer from the Wantagh-Seaford Citizen for their coverage of the plant in recent years.

Franco lauded the Mangano administration for the commitment they have made to enhance the plant at a Nassau County legislature in December. Franco said that out of 20,000 hours of scheduled maintenance in the previous administration, only a few hundred were done.

"I would personally like to thank Ed Mangano and I'm glad that we did everything we could to get him elected," said Franco at the May 26 WSHA meeting. "He made this all happen."

Richard Millet, Nassau County Deputy Commissioner of Public Works, gave an  on the improvements done at the Cedar Creek plant this year during the WSHA's March 29 meeting. Millet said that thanks to the guidance of the plant's new consultant Mark Wagner from Woodbury-based Cameron Engineering, all bar screens and two of the three grip tanks at the facility are operating.