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Mostly Cloudy Long Beach sewage treatment plant gets a ‘D’
City officials dispute environmental group’s Sewage Report Card
The Long Beach Water Pollution Control Facility received a grade of D from the nonprofit advocacy organization Citizens Campaign for the Environment, which released its first Long Island Sewage Report Card on Oct. 31. The rating raised concerns among residents but was disputed by city officials.
The CCE, whose mission is to build awareness of and protect the natural environment and public health, analyzed 10 large sewage-treatment plants across Long Island, including the nearby Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway, which it also gave a grade of D.
The organization reviewed effluent data from 2005 through 2010 and conducted interviews with the management of the facilities, Maureen Dolan Murphy, the CCE’s executive programs manager, said. The plants, she explained, were graded based on permit violations and public notification procedures, as well as storm-water management, energy efficiency and public education, among other criteria.
The report, which also analyzed the plants’ permit violations, noted that Long Beach had a total of 78 violations, fifth highest of the 10 plants. Most of them, Murphy said, were issued because of reports that city officials consistently submitted late, while some were water-quality violations.
With each county plant treating 58 million gallons of sewage per day, she said, Long Beach’s plant needs to make major upgrades to protect the city’s environment and public health. “There’s aging infrastructure that needs to be upgraded,” she said. “They need to enact a public notification system, upgrade technology and remove nitrogen from effluent. The bottom line? Long Beach can be doing more.”
The report stated that the plants do not have public notification systems when untreated or partially treated sewage is released. On Oct. 18, however, County Executive Edward Mangano and two Republican legislators, Denise Ford of Long Beach and Howard Kopel of Lawrence, announced the creation of a new system to notify residents via email about incidents that result in wastewater spills in waterways near the Bay Park, Cedar Creek or Glen Cove plant.
