At the southernmost tip of East Rockaway, The Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant was built in 1949 — the year Harry S Truman was president. The population of Nassau County was about half of what it is today. The planty processes 40 percent of the county’s sewage, serving 550,000 residents. A consolidation with sewer plants in Lawrence and Cedarhurst — which closed in 2011 — sent an extra 2 million gallons of sewage per day to the Bay Park facility, making it 65,000 galloons a day. (The State Department of Environmental Conservation allows it to process up to 72 million gallons.) At the time, East Rockaway and Bay Park residents urged the Legislature to upgrade the county plant before diverting sewage to it, as well as conduct an environmental impact study on the Western Bays, which is currently where the plant dumps treated effluent.