Plant in service, residents pumped

A week earlier than expected — and five months later than planned — Malverne’s water supplier brought its iron filtration plant online last week.

Long Island American Water opened the filtration plant on the Malverne-Lynbrook border in late October with the promise of removing more iron from the water. The company failed to inform residents that the plant was not operating until mid-February, when some angry residents, frustrated with brown, iron-laden water, took their complaints to LIAW’s president, Bill Varley.

Having finally dried out the paint in the new plant’s water tanks, LIAW got the plant up and running on March 8. The news gave hope to residents of Malverne, West Hempstead, Lakeview and Lynbrook that they would finally see clear water coming out of their faucets.

The plant will produce 4 million gallons of filtered water a day, with iron levels reduced to almost undetectable amounts, according to Varley.

“It’s definitely going to enhance the water quality in these areas, and it also allows us to take wells with higher iron levels out of service,” he said. “People aren’t going to see overnight a change, but gradually, as we improve the water quality, they’ll see a change.”

To comment on the changing look of their water, area residents took to Facebook, many posting on the wall of the group I Love Malverne but Hate Brown Water. Former Civic Association President Tom Grech started the group last month on a lark, he said. But he ended up generating a large following and publicizing the water discoloration problem in the village and in surrounding communities.

“Our water has been clear for a few weeks now. very pleased,” wrote Teresa Brusca-Truncale. “[F]irst time in 7 years! Hope [it] continues. Thanks Tom for all of your hard work!”

Grech continues his efforts to spread information to community residents and keep them talking about the situation. They, in turn, are keeping Grech posted on developments.

“I’m encouraged by early signs from the ton of emails and calls I’ve gotten from people, and I am encouraged by initial reports of clearer water,” Grech said, adding that he has a “wait-and-see attitude.”

James Vandeven wrote that the water at his house has been clear since the Feb. 10 question-and-answer session that the Civic Association held with Varley in the basement of the Malverne library. “It had been tinted brown on and off for years and at its worst the months before the public attention,” Vandeven wrote on the Facebook page.

Dawn Wladyka, the Malverne resident whose brown-water photos, posted on Facebook, were the spark that led to Grech’s group, said she is hoping for the best. “My water seems OK for now,” Wladyka recently told the Herald. “However, I would expect that it would take a bit for everything to clear out, so I am cautiously optimistic.”

Although Varley said he is confident that his customers will see great improvement in the quality of their water, he encouraged all homeowners to flush their water heaters of iron sediments that have accumulated there. “Even if we put out filtered water,” he explained, “if there’s sediments in the hot water tank, they’re still going to get some sediment” and their hot water will look brown.

With the plant now in service, LIAW is continuously monitoring its system to ensure that everything is running properly. Varley reminded residents that there will be some reversal of flows in the area, which could cause minor disturbances in the water mains. As a result, some people may see a slight discoloration in their cold water, but LIAW will continue flushing the system to minimize the problem.

The company has also made repairs to one of its wells in Lakeview, which has been out of service, and is in the process of obtaining samples for health department approval to get the well back in service. Because the well, No. 3, has lower naturally occurring iron levels than other wells, the company hopes to have it up and running soon to further enhance its efforts to clear up the water, Varley said.

Regularly scheduled springtime flushing for Malverne, West Hempstead and Lynbrook is expected to run from April 4 to 15.

“I’m happy with the level of response that we’ve all received from the LIAW staff,” Malverne Civic Association President Peter Robideau told the Herald. “Although I’m not expecting an overnight one-hundred percent improvement, I am cautiously optimistic that LIAW will continue to monitor our water supply and take any required actions as they see fit.”

While Grech said he was pleased with the way LIAW handled the whole situation, he maintained that there is still a lingering concern about the tens of thousands of dollars people spent on replacing water heaters and installing new filtration systems and pipes in their homes as a result of miscommunication by the company.

“That’s a discussion for another day,” Grech said. “But to date, since the Facebook crowd got this issue front and center, they’ve been very responsive. … They’ve done a really, really good job of communicating and executing what they promised.”