Mangano: We need money for Bay Park

The stench was unbearable.

“We’re concerned about our life in the community, people can’t even open their windows or sit in their backyards, and it will get exponentially worse with the warm weather coming,” said East Rockaway resident Kathleen Acuti, who spoke in front of the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant dressed in a mock HAZMAT suit and mask. “We just want to see what their long-term plan is so that our children can go to school down the street without smelling this on the playground.”

Acuti is among the many residents who say that over the past few weeks, the odor emanating from the plant is worse than ever. Additionally, three million gallons of partially treated sewage was dumped into Reynolds Channel on May 9 due to a one-hour power outage at the plant, further exposing problems at the facility.

Mike Martino, a spokesman for the Nassau County Department of Public Works, attributed the release to a failure in the pump system, which sends cooling water to the generators that caused the plant to go offline at 11 p.m. He said that the plant is currently running on generators, and County Executive Ed Mangano has ordered the generators to remain in service until further notice.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mangano, along with Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, Legislator Denise Ford (R-Long Beach), and representatives from environmental groups like Citizens Campaign for the Environment and Operation SPLASH, urged the state and federal government to expedite the release of funding in order to make repairs at the troubled facility.

“Clearly, the Bay Park Sewage Plant has not been a good neighbor,” said Mangano. “I understand your frustration. We are going to move as quickly as possible. We are ready to go.”