Water district commish up for re-election

Bill San Antonio

Roslyn Water District Commissioner William Costigan said Tuesday he’s always thought people have a civic duty to uphold.

It’s the primary reason, Costigan said, he was attracted to run for the position in 2002, at the suggestion of then-Commissioner Jack Russo.

In the four three-year terms he’s served since, the 33-year Roslyn Heights resident said he’s learned “there’s a lot more to water than just turning the faucet on.”

Costigan is seeking his fifth term as commissioner – in the treasurer’s role – in Tuesday’s election, and though the race is unopposed, he said he’s tried to inspire his neighbors to do their civic duty and vote.

“I always make an effort to make sure people come out to the polls because they should be involved in their community,” the 33-year Roslyn Heights resident said. “You always want to be vigilant of any write-in vote, too.”

The Roslyn Water District covers the villages of Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Roslyn Harbor, East Hills, Flower Hill, North Hills and parts of Port Washington and the unincorporated areas of Albertson, Glenwood Landing, Greenvale and Roslyn Heights.

Voting will take place at the Bryant Library at 2 Paper Mill Road in the Village of Roslyn from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

In his decade-plus-long tenure with the water district, Costigan said he’s learned about how a district gleans water from more than 450 feet below the earth’s surface, test and clean it to abide by environmental and health laws and distribute it to the public. 

Costigan, now retired after running a printing and binding company for many years, said he is proudest of the water district’s modernization of technologies that monitor its eight wells, and looks forward to the completion of a 10-year, $20.9 million capital plan that includes projects to rid contaminants from three wells that were taken offline in the last few years.

“We’re looking to provide a safe, adequate supply of drinking water,” Costigan said. “It’s up to us to treat it so the water distributed to the community is safe for consumption. That’s what we do. It’s one of our biggest missions, if not our biggest mission.”

He also said he fully supports a project to build an air stripper device at Christopher Morley Park to rid the water district’s well along Diana’s Trail in the Village of Roslyn Estates of the chlorofluorocarbon Freon-22. 

“It’s the only treatment method for removing certain contaminants from the water and is a practice that’s been in place in Nassau and Suffolk for many, many years. There are several of these air stripping facilities throughout Nassau County,” he said. “It gives us the ability to remove contaminants from the groundwater and makes sure that what goes into transmission mains is an adequate supply of good water.”

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