Legislator Denenberg calls for public water district

Nassau County Legislator Dave Denenberg is encouraging ratepayers of Aqua America, Inc. to call on Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray to take preliminary steps toward creation of a public water district for southeast Nassau.

The Water Authority of Southeastern Nassau County, which was instituted under the New York Public Authority Law of 1991, allowed for the creation of a special board of directors to evaluate the possibility of a public water district for the area.

Such a board was put in place in the early 1990s, said Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, at a public meeting at the Brookside School in North Merrick on Thursday. The five-member board, comprising three members from Hempstead and two from the Town of Oyster Bay, existed for a time in the early 1990s, but nothing came of it. Now Denenberg would like the board revived.

"The whole purpose of that public benefit corporation was to analyze, investigate and evaluate the takeover of the entire area within southeast Nassau that was serviced by New York Water Service Corporation, which is now Aqua," said Denenberg.

Aqua provides water to parts of the Town of Hempstead as well as the Town of Oyster Bay. Denenberg and North Merrick Civic Association President Claudia Borecky encouraged residents to attend a Hempstead Town meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. to push for the creation of the new board of directors, allowing for the possible public takeover of Aqua locally.

Aqua America, which provides water to Bellmore-Merrick under the name Aqua New York, is a private, publicly traded company with estimated revenues of $660 million in 2009, according to the company's financial filings. Aqua bought out the former New York Water Service Corporation in 2007.

Denenberg's call for a public water district came in recent months after Aqua appealed to the New York Public Service Commission for a 12 percent rate increase, angering dozens of local residents, who have turned out for a series of public meetings sponsored by the legislator.

Having already appealed to the PSC and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer in December, Denenberg asserted that beating the rate increase was not enough. What the community needs is a public water district, which he said he believes would charge less than a private company.

"If you're in a public water district, you don't have to pay taxes," Denenberg said. "Here, with Aqua, you have to pay taxes, so that's why you have to pay a surcharge; that's why you're paying higher rates."

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