Construction to a water purification tower known as an “air stripper” at a section of land within Christopher Morley Park will likely begin by late spring, a Roslyn Water District official said Tuesday.
“By the time all the paperwork is in order and the contractors are ready to start, I think it’s probably the latter part of the spring,” Roslyn Water Superintendent Rich Passariello said. “We’re in the process of getting that all in place.”
Passariello did not disclose the names of contractors with whom the district is working on the project, as he said agreements for the work have not yet been finalized.
The air stripper would remove from the district’s well along Diana’s Trail in the Village of Roslyn Estates the carcinogen Freon-22, which was discovered there during tests to the water in late 2013, and release emissions into the air.
The well was taken out of operation that November when levels of the contaminant increased in concentration, though officials have said they have not approached unsafe levels.
The project is being funded as part of a $20.9 million capital bond that was approved by the North Hempstead Town Council in February 2014.
A second well along Mineola Avenue in Roslyn Estates and another well located near the William Cullen Bryant Viaduct are also out of operation due to contamination, causing the water district to enact a water-rationing plan last summer throughout the district, which includes the five Roslyn-area villages and parts of North Hills, Greenvale, Albertson, Glenwood Landing and Port Washington.
The Nassau County Legislature last summer approved a home-rule message allowing land in the park to be transferred to New York State for approval to the Roslyn Water District. The project was then approved by the state Assembly and Senate prior to the end of the 2014 legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in December.
Upon receiving the county’s approval, the project was opposed by the Nassau County Green Party and later challenged in court by Roslyn residents Richard Brummel, Joshua Dicker and David Greengold, who have said the air stripper would lead to deforestation within the park.
But Passariello has said that an air stripper is “the only way” for Freon-22 to be removed from the water, and that seeking an alternative water source would neither be possible nor practical.
Brummel, Dicker and Greengold have been successful in receiving temporary restraining orders against the project, but injunctions to the work have been lifted.
The case was last heard in the state Appellate Division.
In early February, the legislature’s rules committee approved a use and occupancy permit to the Roslyn Water District to begin construction on the project.
Officials have said the district consumes more than 68,000 gallons of water per hour each day, considerably less than the 291,700 gallons per hour it uses on an average summer day.
