Community Corner
Storm Floods Bay Park Plant, County Executes Emergency Measures
Raw sewage will be diverted to Rockaway Channel due to flood at sewage plant.
Nassau County will relieve sewage pressure values throughout the Bay Park Sewage Treatment System and secure pumps to divert sewage from backing up into houses, businesses, schools and streets, County Executive Edward Mangano announced Wednesday. The critical response team of engineers, aided by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is actively initiating a three-part mitigation plan:
- Immediately — Emergency relief will divert raw sewage to Rockaway Channel
- Up to 30 Days — Triage repairs to the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant anticipates partial treatment of sewage.
- 6 to 12 months — Comprehensive repair of the facility. Initial assessments indicate that repair will require replacement parts to be engineered, manufactured and replaced. The assessment process is ongoing and plans will be updated as they become available.
"They’ve got no pumps and no water," Legislator Howard Kopel told Patch. "The army is involved and is going to help in transporting things (parts for the plant) here. They have to dump it because there’s nothing else to do. You have to protect people’s homes."
He added, "We’re going to have impact on our services all over the island for months." The sewage plants in Lawrence and Cedarhurst were also damaged in the storm, but they remain operational.
The Nassau County Commissioner of Health warns residents to avoid contact with sewage which initially may backup at manhole covers and basement drains. The Nassau County Department of Health advises residents to:
- avoid contact with sewage;
- wear gloves and use soap and water for any required clean-up, followed by disinfecting the area with a 10% household bleach solution; and
- items which cannot be cleaned must be discarded.
- limit water usage immediately, including a ban on watering grass and washing cars;
- limit laundry and washer/dryer usage to full loads;
- shorten shower time; and
- limit flushing toilets.
The previous information is from the office of Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano. It has been edited by Patch.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here
