In order to cut nitrogen levels in the Western Bays, Nassau County will divert wastewater from the Bay Park Treatment Plant in East Rockaway to one in Wantagh.
The Nassau Deputy Commissioner of Public Works told Newsday that diverting the 55 million gallons of treated wastewater a day to an ocean outfall pipe at Cedar Creek’s Water Pollution Control Plant in Wantagh will reduce nitrogen levels by 99.4 percent.
Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, says, “After this treated sewage is diverted away from the Western Bays, scientists believe the Bays will begin a very rapid recovery. In other areas in the nation where this was done, it took about 18 months to two years.”
Excess nitrogen can cause toxic algal blooms.
The pipe is over a hundred years old, but engineers have found the pipe can handle the sewage. The estimated cost for this project is $360 million.