An inside look at Cedar Creek

Mike Martino, Dan Ryan, Ralph Spagnolo and Phil Franco looked at some pipes that have been repaired in the underbelly of the Cedar Creek Sewage Treatment Plant during a tour last week.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

Excess methane is burned off here so the highly explosive gas is not released into the atmosphere.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

The methane sphere stores gas that is used to power parts of the plant.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

Sludge goes through a dewatering process before it is hardened and trucked off site.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

Large pipes provide aeration that keeps alive microorganisms which are used to break down the sewage.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

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Last year’s takeover of the Cedar Creek Sewage Treatment Plant by a private company has resulted in increased maintenance at the facility and cost savings to the county, officials are touting.

While Nassau County still owns the sewer infrastructure, Suez is operating two plants — Cedar Creek on border of Wantagh and Seaford, and Bay Park in East Rockaway. The contract was awarded to United Water for 2015, with the name changing to Suez Water in November.

Suez Long Island spokesman Mike Martino said that the $58 million contract includes all salaries, maintenance and contracts with outside vendors, and also guarantees $10 million in annual savings to the county.

The Herald went on a tour of the Cedar Creek Plant on March 23 with Martino, Plant Manager Dan Ryan, Seaford Harbor Civic Association President Phil Franco, and member of the Cedar Creek Oversight Committee Ralph Spagnolo. The tour included much of the plant’s vast underground network of pipes, tanks and engines.

Sewage from Nassau County’s Sewer District No. 3, which runs from Freeport to the Suffolk County border, and the Long Island Expressway to the Great South Bay, enters Cedar Creek Park through a 108-inch pipe that runs under the park. It then splits into four channels and the sewage runs through bar screens. Solid materials such as paper and plastic are removed.

The building which houses the bar screens is in the process of being expanded and upgraded. Presently, the solid material is removed three stories below ground and placed into dumpsters, which are then raised to the top floor and emptied into other dumpsters. Ryan said it is a dangerous operation, which is why the new bar screens will be at ground level, no longer requiring the lifting of dumpsters weighing at least a ton.