Five contractors selected for Morley Park air stripper work

Bill San Antonio

Five contractors have been approved to construct an air stripper project in Christopher Morley Park to remove the contaminant Freon-22 from the Roslyn Water District’s well on Diana’s Trail in the Village of Roslyn Estates.

Water district Superintendent Richard Passariello said general construction will be done by the Mineola-based Web Construction Corp., work related to the well will be completed by the Holbrook-based Layne Christensen Co., plumbing will be done by the Wyandanch-based Phillip Ross Industries, Inc., electrical work by Rolands Electrical Corp. and HVAC will be completed by the Holtsville firm Bensin Contracting, Inc.

Though work to the water main has already begun, construction at the park site cannot begin until Nassau County’s parks and public works departments review and approve the project’s construction plans, said Joseph Todaro, a senior water resources engineer at H2M Engineering who is working on the project.

Passariello said there is no definite timetable for when the county will approve plans, but said he is “optimistic that it’ll happen in the next several weeks.”

The air stripper would be placed about 200 feet from the water district’s nearby well and remove Freon-22 from the water supply and send emissions of the chlorofluorocarbon into the air.

It was approved by the Town of North Hempstead as part of a $20.9 million capital bond for the water district. 

The park land was acquired from the state by Nassau County and transferred to the water district for construction of the air stripper.

East Hills resident Richard Brummel and Roslyn Estates residents Joshua Dicker and David Greengold have challenged the project in court, arguing that placing the air stripper in the park would harm residents, local organizations and wildlife that use its forested areas. 

They have also cited the support of the Sierra Club of Long Island, the Green Party of Nassau County, advocacy group Parc Nassau and petitions signed by park users, in the litigation.

The Diana’s Trail well was closed in November 2013 after concentrations of Freon-22 found in the water earlier that year were found to have spiked, albeit to levels officials said were still safe for consumption. 

Freon-22 can cause dizziness, loss of concentration, central nervous system depression and/or cardiac arrhythmia if inhaled in high concentrations, and can also cause asphyxiation if inhaled in confined spaces. 

Officials from the State Department of Environmental Conservation have said the air stripper would be able to withstand contamination of up to 43 parts per billion, a small percentage compared to the 55,000 parts per billion maximum set by the state and federal government.

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