The presentation raised alarms, but also demonstrated in most dramatic fashion the strengths and benefits of our local government.
At the March 27 meeting of the Great Neck Village Officials Association, Greg Graziano, the superintendent of the Water Authority of Great Neck North, showed how the plume of contamination that originated so many decades ago from the former Sperry site (then Unisys, then Lockheed-Martin which unfortunately for them is left holding the bag for remediation), has not been contained south of the Long Island Expressway, as it was supposed to by the pump-and-treat well that Lockheed-Martin built on South High School property, but the plume had already gravitated northwest, has reached Northern Boulevard, and is headed for the Water Authority’s drinking wells on Water Mill Lane and other places.
“Unfortunately Lockheed-Martin seems behind eight ball all the time,” Graziano told the village officials, “because by time they put a system in place, the plume migrates.”
Now, before you get hysterical, you should know that the various authorities are working on a plan to pull out the contamination or at the very least treat the water to maintain the higher-than-required standards of purity that we have enjoyed. Most of our wells today require treatment – and not just from the contamination from Lockheed-Martin but from places like Stanton cleaners and gas stations. With the migration of the plume, the likelihood is that all the wells will require treatment by 2023.
The question is, who pays?
Also, a judiciously conceived well management plan has controlled salt water intrusion – this involves timing the pumping so that the most vulnerable wells are the last ones turned on and the first ones turned off as seasonal needs drive water usage.
Pumping also pulls the plume of contamination, so the authorities guard against that, as well.
Because of the impact that pumping has, it is important that the local officials- particularly from both WAGNN and Manhasset-Lakeville Water district and that includes our Senator and Assemblywoman in the State Legislature – make it clear to Lockheed-Martin the best method based on several key facts here on the Great Neck Peninsula. The most critical fact is that drilling new wells solely to draw up the water from the aquifer rather than water that is already being pumped for drinking, threatens to suck in the saltwater from the Bay and Sound – salt water intrusion – which would poison the drinking wells.
We’ve already lost some wells on Kings Point, and the water authority had to drill new wells south of Northern Boulevard, at the Whitney site, in order to better distribute the pumping pressure.
The reason that the plume has flowed further than it was supposed to based on the plan-of-action Lockheed Martin set out on several years ago is that the company was unable to purchase a parcel of land on which to drill another treatment well that would have pulled the plume toward it, where the water is aerated and treated to remove the VOCs. Without this well, with the passage of time, and with the pumping action from the drinking wells, the plume was drawn further north.
The idea is forming that Lockheed Martin should pay for the pump-and-treatment for the drinking wells operated by the two water authorities, instead of paying to operate separate pumping operations where the water is discarded (the surface water takes 200 years or to make its way back into the aquifer), which additionally poses the added risk to the drinking water supply.
The presentation served to unify the local officials – which included State Senator Jack Martins in the audience (Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel was still in Albany voting on the budget) – but Martins had already had a meeting with Lockheed Martin.
The concern is that the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, which is charged with protecting the aquifer, will come out with its own hastily and ill-conceived plan to require Lockheed-Martin to drop two or three more wells for the exclusive purpose of treatment, not drinking water. That extra pumping poses a risk to the Peninsula of salt-water intrusion.
Meanwhile, Lake Success Mayor Ronald S. Cooper had arranged a meeting April 2 with Lockheed-Martin, in conjunction with the two water authorities. Sen. Martins and Assemblywoman Schimel were also at the meeting, so that everyone could get on board with the same plan to propose to the DEC, which ultimately has to sign off on the plan.
The plan that our local officials are advocating is to have Lockheed-Martin treat the contamination at the site of the drinking water wells, rather than drill new ones solely for the purpose of treatment. The dollar cost to Lockheed-Martin would likely be comparable, but it would lessen the risk to the Peninsula of salt-water intrusion.
Martins said he had already met with the DEC Commissioner of DEC. “We will only will get one chance at this – figure out what you want – so we need to be on same page, showing a united front,” he told the GNVOA.
This “united front” around a particular plan has to happen before the DEC releases its Proposed Remedial Action Plan (PRAP). At that point, there will be public hearings, and a 30-day public comment period, but that plan is the one that the Peninsula will have to live with.
“We expect the DEC will issue a PRAP any day, but do you want them to? Do you want them to tell you what they want, or do you want to tell them what you want?” Martins said.
He cautions that we cannot assume that the DEC will have the appreciation for the fact that pumping-and-treating the water for the sole purpose of treatment and not for drinking water poses new risk of salt-water intrusion.
And frankly, Lockheed-Martin probably doesn’t care about saltwater intrusion either, because that is not their statutory obligation in fulfilling the requirement to remediate the contamination originating from their property.
That is why the local public pressure is so important.
But this is time to sit down with Lockheed-Martin, to get their commitment and make sure it is a real commitment with monies set aside.
“We aren’t to enter into any deal that could jeopardize future water supply for some money today,” Graziano said.
“You can’t drink money,” Martins added.
The meeting on April 2 brought together the principal stakeholders on the Peninsula- Sen Martins, a strong advocate on unifying the stakeholders: WAGN, Manhasset-Lakeville and Lockheed-martin –
“We all met together to see if we could come together in unified approach to come up with solution to bring to DEC, so we can make it more local, and not leave it up to DEC. DEC is final arbiter of decision making, but we realized if we were all solid in what we thought was best, in the science, and municipalities involved, we would have a stronger approach,” Graziano related after the meeting.
It is surprising – and disturbing – to see how far the plume of pollution has spread.
“We want remediation as soon as possible,” Graziano said. “We want to be as aggressive as we can.”
Lockheed-Martin, he said, has been fully cooperative.
“We want the best result with the least impact to the community,” Schimel said after the meeting which lasted a couple of hours. “It’s not just money. There are impacts on the community in setting up the solution.”
She said that everyone “worked well together with the idea of focusing on what’s best for ratepayers, environment, with the least impact on the community financially and environmentally.” Digging up a road, getting into legal entanglements or other solutions which would take more time could be destructive. “What do you accomplish by tying up a plan for a couple of more years?”
Meanwhile, Martins is proposing a bill in the state Legislature to create a Long Island Aquifer Protection Commission – incorporating Nassau and Suffolk, and the various water providers.
“This is an acknowledgement that the aquifer we stand on, that supplies water to millions has to be protected, yet no one protecting. The idea is to do it regionally.”
That’s because the water flows underground – and knows no borders. If Queens undertakes a radical plan to increase pumping, that will have a deleterious impact on Great Neck.
“There’s Riverkeepers [which protects the Hudson], the Mohawk River Authority, the Finger Lakes Authority – all are important state interests, yet there is no state interest that protects the Long Island aquifer,” Martins said. “Incredible.”
Legislation has been drafted and is going in right after the break. It would create a commission to work with local water providers, force DEC to do water studies, so individual authorities don’t have to, monitor the plumes (which know no boundaries) and water levels which are important too. In Queens, for example, areas are more prone to flooding than ever before.
“This is a holistic approach we have to take as a region,” Martins said.
