Recent odors that have been emanating from the Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant in Wantagh are expected to be a topic of discussion at a meeting this Wednesday night.
The Cedar Creek Oversight Committee is meeting Wednesday night starting at 7:30 p.m. in the administration building of the plant, which is located just south of Merrick Road. Representatives from the Nassau County Department of Public Works will be at the meeting to give an update on the plant and answer questions from the committee and public.
Phil Franco, co-chairman of Cedar Creek Oversight Committee and president of the newly relaunched Seaford Harbor Civic Association, said odors have been "really bad" at the county-run plant this year, especially during the summer.
Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano has been pressing forward with sewage privatization plans that involve the Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant despite the Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) rejecting his proposed contract with Morgan Stanley to broker a deal for the public-private partnership. Prior to NIFA’s ruling, Mangano’s plan involved selecting Harrington Park, N.J. -based United Water as a potential operator for the county’s sewage treatment system for at least 20 years.
My position ... This was exposed in 2005, The 2009 attempt was successful in finally getting the right attention mand we can clearly document that fact. In order to effectively deal with these issues we have to get to the root cause, we have to ask "why" (the 5 Why's). When we get to the root and it's because money was never spent or spect correctly, it's a County Exectutive, Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner issue and we do need responsible action from the appropriate State agencies.