Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman and the town's Office of Intermunicipal Coordination (OIC) announced that the Town of North Hempstead, the Village of Great Neck, and the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District have joined forces to request that the DEC and the State of New York reallocate an $18 million grant awarded for a diversion project that would reduce nitrogen levels in the Long Island Sound. The Village of Great Neck and the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District provide wastewater treatment to much of the Great Neck peninsula.

In 2001, the DEC ruled that by the year 2014, all municipalities that control wastewater treatment must comply with new nitrogen removal standards. This decision came as a result of an EPA-mandated order to reduce excessive nitrogen levels in the Long Island Sound. To meet these standards set forth by the DEC, wastewater treatment plants are required to upgrade their facilities to reduce nitrogen discharges to 58.4 percent. In order to comply with these regulations, the DEC provided millions of dollars in grant monies for upgrades to sewer treatment plants across the North Shore of Long Island. However, in order to receive the grant money, the two Great Neck facilities are instead being required to divert their waste flow to the Nassau County system that discharges into the Atlantic Ocean. The Great Neck peninsula was the only area required to use DEC grant monies solely for the diversion option.

While proposals relating to diversion were studied, the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District was unable to choose any other option other than the upgrade option as there was no specific plan or authorization for the other options by the Aug. 20 deadline. The district also commissioned a study on the subject that concluded that even though initial capital costs for diversion were cheaper, when operations and maintenance costs were included in the overall budget, the upgrade option was actually cheaper than diversion. Along with financial costs, environmental and quality of life issues also factored into the district's decision.

The district and the village had until Aug. 20, 2007 to determine whether they would select the diversion option and receive the $18 million grant, or the upgrade option and be responsible for the entire cost of the project. The diversion option would require that sewage flow be diverted to Nassau County's facilities, which currently treat over 80 percent of sewage within the county. According to the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District's stud,y the cost would be approximately $25 million to local residents ($42 million minus an $18 million grant from NYS). The upgrade option would have a capital cost of $47 million. The Town of North Hempstead would be responsible for authorizing the district's portion of the bond, which would be in the tens of millions of dollars.

"Even though the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District advises that diversion is neither viable nor desirable the reality is the upgrade option achieves the necessary goal," said Supervisor Kaiman. "In light of the fact that all other sewer districts in the region received grants for upgrading their facilities, it would be inequitable and downright unfair for Great Neck residents to have to bear the entire burden themselves."

In order to have a full discussion of the options before the Aug. 20 deadline, Supervisor Kaiman called a "Sewer Summit" earlier this month to discuss those options. Included at the summit were the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District, the Port Washington Water Pollution Control District, and the Belgrave Water Pollution Control District as well as the Village of Great Neck, the Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County, state Senator Craig Johnson and Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel and representatives from other state and federal offices.

On Friday, Aug. 24, Supervisor Kaiman called upon the district and the village to refrain from relinquishing the $18 million grant, as requested by the DEC, even though the diversion option was not selected. Kaiman urged them instead to come together and fight to have the grant money reallocated for the upgrade option. Kaiman argues that the purpose of the grant program was to assist local municipalities in meeting the federal and state mandates relating to reducing nitrogen in waste water and, as such, improving the water quality in the Long Island Sound.

On Sept. 4, 2007 the Town of North Hempstead, the Village of Great Neck and the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District will all move a resolution to have the state reallocate the $18 million grant to the upgrade of the village and district sewer treatment plants.