Water worries irk Five Towns residents

Brown water flowing from faucets, rising bills and the sentiment that service is not improving quickly enough are the primary complaints about New York American Water, a private utility that serves the Five Towns and several other Long Island communities.

Because of aging iron pipes — the first of which were installed in Lawrence in 1896 — the Five Towns has a serious problem with brown water. The discoloration is caused by rust on the inside of the pipes, which also narrows the pipes and reduces water pressure.

“I haven’t felt good about New York American Water for more years than I can count,” North Woodmere resident Teri Schure said. “For the past 25 years, I’ve been using bottled water for drinking and cooking. I recently put a full water filter in my home, but I will still not drink the water. But I’m forced to use it to shower, cook and for laundry. What choice do I have?”

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Beach who represents the Five Towns, noted that “the number one complaint” his office receives from constituents is about high water bills. “Customers thought that with a private company, they would be afforded top service, and they’re not seeing that,” Kaminsky said. “New York American Water needs to redouble its efforts and work at a much faster pace.”

Kaminsky sent a letter to the state Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Health urging them to join him in securing money to study the feasibility of western Nassau County’s using the New York City water system for drinking water because of emerging contaminants in Long Island’s aquifers such as 1,4 dioxane. Department officials said they were reviewing the letter, noting, “Long Island’s ground water is critically important to the economic vitality of the region and provides an important and sustainable source of drinking water for all Long Islanders. DEC and DOH continue to work to protect this resource while not ruling out options like additional hookups to build redundancy in Long Island’s water systems.”

New York American Water, which was represented at the Oct. 24 Lawrence Association meeting by Jim Runzer, the utility’s vice president of operations, and Production Manager Richard Kern, invested $66 million from 2016 to 2018 to replace 55 miles of water mains in what is known as Service Area 1, which includes the Five Towns, according to its website.

“We are replacing pipes and doing a complete study on pipe corrosion,” Kern said before the meeting began. “We’re working with leading experts from around the country, and doing a ‘loop study’ testing different water chemicals.” Chemicals that can be safely used in drinking water, Kern explained, can slow the rust buildup in water pipes, and a loop study uses sections of old pipe that are being replaced to test the viability of the chemicals.

The study, he said, is at least six months away from yielding usable results. He also noted that although emerging contaminants have been found in drinking wells in other parts of Long Island, they have not been found on the South Shore.

Over the past four years, American Water has replaced water mains in Cedarhurst, Hewlett and Lawrence. In Cedarhurst, a Washington Avenue main was replaced early in October. Four years ago, a 16-inch main was installed underground in Cedarhurst, between Village Hall and Central Avenue. NYAW officials said at the time that the roughly 800 feet of new pipe should eliminate the brown water for residents in the area.

“People complain, and it generally varies from place, time and season — there’s no specific pattern,” Cedarhurst Mayor Benjamin Weinstock said of brown-water reports in the village. He added that discoloration had not yet been eliminated, and that he and other Cedarhurst officials had recently met with NYAW President Lynda DiMenna, and were told about the loop study. “They are developing a number of different plans, such as increasing filtration at the well head,” Weinstock said.

In 2017, NYAW replaced 2,300 feet of six-inch, 19th-century pipe with an eight-inch ductile iron main along Causeway Road in Lawrence. This year, the company addressed the brown-water problem in Hewlett, along Hewlett Parkway, Westervelt Place and Wheatley Street, replacing aging, unlined, cast-iron pipe and nearly 2,560 feet of two- and six-inch water main that was installed in 1924 with new eight- and 16-inch ductile iron water main. Six fire hydrants and 70 utility-owned service lines were also replaced.

“There is no bigger concern in the water industry,” Runzer said, than looking for “real solutions” in order to keep water clean. “We’re going to test and retest to make sure we’re doing it right.”

Have an opinion on water in the Five Towns? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.