Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano this evening issued a Conserve Water Order as Hurricane Sandy has caused a critical infrastructure failure at the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant. At this time, the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant is not operational and therefore cannot treat sewerage. This generally impacts residents residing south of the Long Island Expressway from the Queens border to the Meadowbrook Parkway with exception to Cedarhurst and Lawrence. County and State critical response teams are actively working on a solution.


The Nassau County Department of Health (DOH) advises residents of this public health concern and to avoid contact with sewage which initially may backup at manhole covers and basement drains. The DOH advises residents to:


· avoid contact with sewage;
· wear gloves and use soap and water for any required clean-up, followed by disinfecting the area with a 10% household bleach solution; and
· items which cannot be cleaned must be discarded.


Until further notice, a Conserve Water Order is now active and residents of the Bay Park Sewage District are directed to:


· limit water usage immediately, including a ban on watering grass and washing cars;
· limit laundry and washer/dryer usage to full loads;
· shorten shower time; and
· limit flushing toilets.

As of Wednesday, the plant was declared a public health emergency. To protect the health of residents and stop sewage from backing up into homes, hospitals, schools, firehouses, nursing homes and restaurants, Mangano announced today that the County and State critical response teams, aided by Governor Andrew Cuomo, State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, are relieving sewage pressure values throughout the Bay Park Sewage Treatment System and securing pumps to divert sewage from backing up houses and streets.

The critical response team of engineers is actively initiating a three-part Mitigation Plan:

1.      Immediately — Emergency relief will divert raw sewage to Rockaway Channel.

2.      Up to 30 Days — Triage repairs to the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant anticipates partial treatment of sewage.

3.      6 - 12 months — Comprehensive repair of the facility.  Initial assessments indicate that repair will require replacement parts to be engineered, manufactured and replaced.  The assessment process is ongoing and plans will be updated as they become available.

Tidal surges caused by Hurricane Sandy resulted in flooding in the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant.  Damage to this critical infrastructure generally impacts all residents within the Bay Park Sewage Treatment System.