Seeking another water filtration plant in Malverne

American Water wants special exception hearing to build facility

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Since the early 1960s, the New York American Water Company has owned a three-quarter-acre property in Malverne that abuts the backyards of homes on Cornwell Avenue, Linden Street, Legion Place and Maple Street. The property, which has no street address, contains wells that have delivered water to Malverne homes for more than 30 years.

Lately, however, the iron levels in the well water there have risen too high, New York American Water executives told residents at a recent meeting — so high that one well is approaching the maximum concentration of iron allowed by the New York State Department of Health.

As a result, the water company is now seeking a special exception hearing in the village that would allow it to erect a temporary water-filtration plant on its property, which company officials say could be up and running in six months.

At the same time, it would seek the necessary government approvals to build a permanent plant there, which could take years more. The plant would be the third water filtration plant in the Malverne area.

“We can get portable plants in the ground faster, and start to clean up the water immediately,” said John Kilpatrick, NY American Water’s engineering manager. “We might not be able to register a permanent plant here for another 10 years.”

Last Saturday, Kilpatrick and other water company executives, along with village officials, met with residents of homes lining the perimeter of the property to explain the problem and the suggested solution.

“It’s desirable to treat the water and use the wells that are closest to the customers,” said Richard Kern, a production manager. If the wells are left unfiltered, Kern said, he would have to shut them down. “Portable water-filtration plants cut down the iron level to virtually nothing,” he told residents, “and once the temporary filtration plant is in, iron levels in those wells would be cut down to virtually nothing.” One of these wells is just under 1.5 parts per million — the maximum concentration allowed by the Department of Health — but at the end of a 24-hour water filtration cycle, the water would be at .1 ppm, Kern said.

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