Water company debuts new sampling stations

Residents may have noticed three-feet high green boxes popping up along the side of roads in Seaford and Wantagh lately. It’s part of American Water’s new way of testing water in the area.

The water company has began installing Water Sampling Stations through its southeast Nassau territory, which includes Wantagh, Seaford, Bellmore, Merrick and parts of Levittown and Massapequa. Installation began in late 2015 and by the time the work is done, 30 boxes will be scattered around.

Michael Nofi, a water quality manager for American Water, said that the company is changing the way it collects its samples to test for bacteria. It used to go to commercial customers, such as businesses or libraries, and get water there. However, he said, because that required a reliance on a building’s internal plumbing system, it wasn’t the ideal way to collect a sample.

These new sampling stations tap directly into water mains. Nofi said this provides American Water with an around-the-clock ability to check its water, and ensures there are no other factors affecting the water quality. “That was really the impetus behind these sample stations,” he said.

Nofi said that the stations are scattered throughout the water district — some at the end of the system and others in the middle. That was done, he said, to give American Water a representative sample of water in the area.

Many of the boxes are found adjacent to vacant land, such as the one on Beechwood Drive in Seaford next to a sump. Nofi said this was done because the company doesn’t want to intrude on residential customers.

American Water is required to take 120 bacterial samples per month. He said that when installation of the boxes is complete, a sample will be taken from each one of the 30 once a week.

He added that this is not related to the monitoring of toxic Grumman plume.

The sampling stations were installed in Lynbrook about five years ago, Nofi explained. It has worked well, and that’s why American Water decided to start using them in the east side of the county.

“It’s just to make our water sampling more efficient,” he said, “and make it more representative of the water that’s actually in our distribution system.”