Since shipping sewage to the South Shore (say this quickly five times) is a slippery subject, The Record took a tour of the Village of Great Neck's Water Pollution Control Department to learn more about what happens to waste water after customers flush toilets, empty bathtubs or wash their clothes.

Perched on a hill overlooking Manhasset Bay, the facility is composed of a cluster of treatment buildings and a trailer that is used as an office since an electrical fire last year destroyed the interior of the office building. Superintendent Henry Turill and his Deputy Superintendent Gary Arman were pleased to talk about the important work they do that most folks take for granted.

Mr. Turill said, "What we do mostly just speeds up the work of Mother Nature." The village maintains 22 miles of gravity and forced main pipes and five pump stations. The gravity pipes are made of clay and vary from 8 inches to 21 inches in diameter. The forced main pipes are made of metal and range from 6 inches to 18 inches in diameter. The points at which the gravity pipes join the forced main pipes are called interceptors. The primary work of the department is keeping the pipes, interceptors and pumping stations in good working order. The pipes are buried 4 feet to 20 feet below the ground's surface well below the frost line.

At least once a year, the gravity pipes are cleaned. Trees have fine microscopic hairs that can grow into the clay pipes. Steel rods are used to cut the roots and a high-pressure jet hose with a nozzle that "spins like crazy" breaks up any blockages. Grease is an enemy of the sewage treatment operators (see sidebar) because it clogs pipes just as it clogs arteries. Mr. Turill said, "Even if we diverted our sewage to Cedar Creek, our job of maintaining the collection system would continue. It takes most of our manpower hours. We have some of the hardest workers you can imagine. They're amazing. They come in for emergencies at all hours."

Mr. Arman noted that as a sewage plant operator, he has to complete at least 40 hours of college work every year to stay certified in the field. Operators must keep up with new technologies and myriad regulations from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

When the sewage flows into the treatment area it goes first to a grit chamber where it slows down and the grit drops to the floor. This step in the treatment is within a closed building and the odor is a little on the strong side. We did not tarry long in that building except to snap a photo. Next the sewage goes to the primary clarifier where fiberglass arms called flyghts, sweep the surface and scrape the bottom of the pit taking out the floatables such as paper. It is at this point that the liquids and the solids are separated. The bio-solids or sludge is transported to the primary digester while the liquid travels to a trickling filter.

The primary digester works something like your stomach. This tank, kept at a temperature of 95-100 degrees, allows anaerobic bacteria to digest the sludge. This process produces methane gas. The mixture is then passed to a secondary digester, which is a settling tank.

Meanwhile, the liquids from the primary clarifier have now traveled on to the trickling filter. This process is also enclosed and is a huge tank filled with irregularly shaped stones over which the liquid is sprinkled by revolving arms. Again, bacteria are allowed to do their work digesting dissolved wastes. The liquid then passes through the secondary clarifier and on into a sand filter, which polishes the water. Finally, the liquid goes through a chlorine contact tank that kills many pathogens.

This cleansed liquid joins with the liquid produced by the Water Pollution Control District located on the east side of East Shore Road into a joint outfall pipe that extends out to the lip of the bay into water that is deep enough to promote good circulation of the effluent.

The solids or sludge is transported by truck to an out-of-state composting facility.

The issue that has propelled discussions of diverting sewage from both plants to Cedar Creek, a Nassau County plant in Wantagh, is the push to reduce the nitrogen level in Long Island Sound. According to proponents, Manhasset Bay would be the beneficiary of such a diversion and diversion would be cheaper than upgrading both facilities to further reduce nitrogen outputs.

The topic of nitrogen reduction in Long Island Sound is not without controversy. For example, the village's treatment facility averages 250 pounds of nitrogen emissions per day. Compare that with New York City which emits 150,671 pounds per day. One frustrated operator said, "The smaller your output of nitrogen, the more difficult it is to reduce it further." New York City is balking at the expensive requirements for nitrogen reduction because they believe that more effective, less costly technologies are under development. In addition, it is now known that improving the health of the Sound is more complicated than just reducing nitrogen.

Belgrave Sewer District, which serves parts of Great Neck and Little Neck, conducted a pilot study for a method of reducing nitrogen that had been used in airports, but found that that particular process did not translate to a sewage application and was too troublesome, clogging the mechanism. Their board of commissioners decided to opt for another de-nitrofication technique in which their current filters would be retrofitted. The cost will be $3.5 million of which the DEC will fund $2.9 million.

George Desmarais of the engineering firm H2M provided the following information: The Oyster Bay sewage facility upgraded their plant which has a capacity for 1.8 million gallons per day (MGD) at a cost of $7 million and took two years to complete. The Town of Huntington with a capacity of 2.5 MGD cost $9 million and Riverhead at a capacity of 1.2 MGD cost $ 8.7 million and was completed in 14 months.

Mayor Falk has said on numerous occasions that each plant on East Shore Road will require $15 million for upgrades, with diversion costing $20 million. But questions remain. In a report in April 2001 to the DEC, a complete reconstruction of the village's plant was estimated to cost $8 million. The cost for an upgrade of the Water Pollution Control District was reported in that document to be $14 million, mainly because the location of that facility, adjacent to the bay, requires that tanks be erected on piles, which increases costs.

Who would be responsible for maintaining diversion pipes and how much would they cost? Exactly where would those pipes be sunk? Would communities along the way require environmental impact studies? Is there a contingency plan in place in the event that diversion plans are not approved?

Whether the East Shore Road rezoning proposal proceeds or not, the issue of sewage treatment upgrades or diversion is a separate topic that will require the community to come up to speed on sewage.