Glen Cove homeowners, please read this! You are about to be put in danger of having your basements flooded with sewage because the City of Glen Cove is looking to give up all of its sewer system to Nassau County. If this happens, forget the personal service of in-home checking of your home's sewer line, as well as the outside sewer mains in the street.

The City of Glen Cove owns 16 sewer lift stations. These stations take sewer water from low areas of Glen Cove and pump it back up hills to the main sewer lines which run to the sewage treatment plant. If one of these stations goes down, five to six homes in that area could be flooded with sewer water in their basements. This is a plain and simple fact. Now, let's talk about the sewer mains out in the street. These lines take all household wastewater to the sewerage treatment plant. If these lines back up, you have an enormous chance of sewer water coming up in the basement of a house through those same sewer lines.

The mayor of the City of Glen Cove and the city's Director of Public Works, both of whom don't own a house in Glen Cove, want those of us who do own homes in Glen Cove to give up these services to Nassau County. Giving up the services is unacceptable. Nassau County will not answer your call for help right away if there's a sewer backup. It might take them up to three hours to answer a call on a work day ... and who knows how long it will take them on off hours, holidays or weekends. While you wait for the county to come, you will be surrounded by sewer water. This is hazardous to your health. When the county does arrive, they aren't necessarily going to enter your home. While you are waiting for service, your property might be damaged. To recover the losses, you might sue the City of Glen Cove, which means it will cost all Glen Cove taxpayers a lot of money.

Glen Cove homeowners, if you want to keep your services in the City of Glen Cove, you should send letters, emails and attend city council meetings to voice your concerns. Let your elected officials know that you don't want to wade and wait in sewer water for Nassau County to do the job that our City of Glen Cove personnel have been doing for years ... and doing it better than anyone else can!

Anthony Contarino