The Nassau County Legislature rules committee on Monday approved a use and occupancy permit for the Roslyn Water District to construct an air stripper purification system at a proposed site within Christopher Morley Park that would remove contaminants from a well in a residential area in the Village of Roslyn Estates.
County officials said the permit would be renewed on a month-to-month basis and could be revoked at any time. Easement rights for the property would be discussed at a future date.
“I think this is something that has to be done so that the Roslyn Water District can continue to distribute safe, clean water to the residents,” said Nassau County Legislator Rich Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park), who added elected officials within the village, Town of North Hempstead and state were also in support of the project.
Rich Passariello, the superintendent of the Roslyn Water District, said in an interview Monday that the permit approval would allow for the start of construction to the air stripper.
The air stripper would remove from the district’s well 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.
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 within 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 alleged the air stripper would lead to deforestation within the park.
Brummel on Monday submitted a written statement on behalf of himself, Dicker and Greengold but signed only by Brummel and Dicker in further opposition to the project, saying the loss of forest “would be a serious loss for Nassau residents and for us.”
Brummel, who also spoke during a public comment portion of the rules committee hearing, called an environmental review of the project “completely inadequate” and suggested county officials reach an alternative solution for water purification.
“This is no solution, to take the pollution from the ground system and put it into the air,” Brummel said. “…We’re purifying our entire water system at the cost of our air quality.”
But Passariello said by phone 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.
“It’s a matter of chemistry. Certain contaminants can be removed through certain processes “Certain volatile compounds can be removed through carbon exchange,” he said. But the only way to remove [Freon-22] is through an air stripper. There is no other way.”
