Commissioners of the Hicksville Water District are carefully watching plans and activity surrounding proposals to address the water supply needs of New York City in Queens.

According to Hicksville Water District Chairman Nicholas Brigandi, "We are keeping a watchful eye on what is happening just over the Nassau border that could affect our water supply for generations to come. We will be calling on our local political leaders to help us protect and preserve our most valuable natural resource - drinking water."

The idea behind the Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) project, which is jointly sponsored by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Commissioner Christopher Ward of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), is to ensure the viability of the city's water supply now and in the future. The project has local water suppliers asking at whose expense this proposal has been formulated and at what impact this plan will have now and for future generations of residents of Nassau and Suffolk. The development of an ASR system will inject billions of gallons of treated surface water from the City's upstate reservoirs into the Lloyd Aquifer where it would be stored for future use for only City residents and businesses.

The Lloyd Aquifer is located about 500-700 feet below the land surface and is protected by the Raritan Clay. It is below the Upper Glacial and Magothy Aquifers. The water in the Lloyd Aquifer is between 1,000 and 3,000 years old, and is the sole source of drinking water for the City of Long Beach and is part of the supply for many Nassau communities. What concerns Commissioner Brigandi is "having this pristine, untouched groundwater supply blended with surface water from New York City. It is a recipe that could have disastrous results."

What the plan calls for is to mix our currently untouched water with water that is both chlorinated and fluoridated and according to Brigandi, "can be detrimental to our future generations."

"As water commissioners, we focus on being guardians of the water supply on Long Island and as such we work to ensure its protection," added Brigandi.

What is pH and does it affect our water? Basically, the pH value is a measure of the acidity of water. The pH of water in the aquifer is naturally very acidic. The city along with all other suppliers maintains their pH slightly alkaline [the opposite of acidic]. Injecting water into the Lloyd Aquifer of a widely different pH and with different dissolved oxygen content will upset the natural balance that currently exists. These changes can affect the way metal ions, such as naturally occurring iron and manganese, are retained within the underlying sands. The effects of adding chlorinated water along with the high trihalomethanes associated with chlorinated surface water also deeply concerns the District. Fluoride is not typically added to Nassau County water and the Hicksville board questions this addition to the pristine Lloyd Aquifer.

New York City officials are saying that a key benefit of adding freshwater to the Lloyd Aquifer is that saltwater contamination will be displaced offshore and away from drinking wells. On Long Island, excessive water use causes intrusion of the water table by seawater. It is the maintenance of a high freshwater table that keeps saltwater from intruding into our aquifer system. However, excessive removal of freshwater from the aquifer allows the saltwater to move further inland where it can find its way into wells.

Saltwater intrusion is already a significant problem in western Nassau County where many wells near the shore are becoming too salty for use. New wells must be drilled further inland. Brooklyn and Queens no longer pump groundwater as a source for potable water having long ago contaminated their supply with saltwater and other contamination. The city currently gets their water supply from upstate New York. Since the city no longer exploits the aquifers in the Queens area, they are beginning to recharge and recover.

The Lloyd Aquifer is currently restricted from use in most of Nassau County and the district questions allowing the city to tap into it - even with their questionable recharge proposal. It seems foolhardy to us to risk Nassau County's sole source groundwater supply simply to back up New York City's abundant surface water supply.

The current ASR plans are being reviewed by a United States Geological Survey team and are moving forward under the direction of the mayor's office with support from the NYSDEC. "The Nassau-Suffolk Water Commissioners Association is against such plans and has noted that no one has even had the courtesy to address the issue with an organization that represents most of Long Island's water suppliers," said Brigandi. "The commissioners will continue to watch this proposal, strategize with our colleagues and keep our residents aware of any developments", Brigandi added.