A second water treatment system came online last week on Long Island to help remove carcinogenic chemicals from the Bethpage plume.
The $4 million system will help treat water that was contaminated by the former Northrop Grumman and U.S. Navy manufacturing facility.
The new system will specifically remove 1,4-dioxane, which requires a unique method to treat. First hydrogen peroxide has to be mixed into the water and then the mixture has to be blasted with ultraviolet rays to destroy the carcinogenic chemical.
Removing the contamination from the entire plume will take more than a century and will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
New York State plans to go ahead with the cleanup and sue Northrop Grumman and the Navy if they don’t pay.
