Nassau County Legislature OKs sewer privatization

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Plant oversight 

Cedar Creek, unlike Bay Park, has had an oversight committee in place since the 1980s, when a project to include a pelletization facility at Cedar Creek was considered but defeated by local activists. Over the years, the committee has acted as a watchdog group to “keep the county on its toes,” said Phil Franco, co-chair of the committee.  “We’d be in the same place as Bay Park if it wasn’t for this committee,” said Franco. “We did some good things as a squeaky wheel. As for now, we still exist. The county isn’t interested, but the people in this community remain interested in what goes on in the plants." 

“Hopefully, Nassau County will have a difference experience from other communities that have entered into deals with United Water,” Eric Weltman wrote in a statement sent to the Herald. Weltman is the senior organizer of Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit that raises awareness of environmental and health issues.

“From sewage overflows in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to sewer line cave-ins, broken equipment and a federal consent decree over polluted waterways in Gary, Indiana, municipalities across the country have been burned after they turned their sewer systems over to United Water,” Weltman said. “Those charged with the essential task of overseeing United Water should remember this: What’s good for United Water may be bad for Nassau County taxpayers and the environment.”

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