Helix filters to clean up Crescent Beach

Steps have been taken to reopen Crescent Beach for Glen Cove residents. The city has begun the installation of two Helix water filtration systems on private properties near Hempstead Harbor. One filter has already been fully installed with the installation of a second to be completed the week of Jan. 31.
After years of searching for the cause of contamination at Crescent Beach, it was found that out of the 18 pipes draining into the stream near Hempstead Harbor, two of the pipes, found on private properties, had high levels of bacteria due to animal waste. The Helix systems placed at the two pipes will help prevent further pollution by using filters spinning at high velocities to separate heavier particles from the water. The cost of the filter installation was covered by the property owners, as it was their responsibility, not the city’s, to maintain the sewage line.
“They have been extremely cooperative,” Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, said.
“These pipes were not hooked up to a septic system or anything. They are runoff pipes which are deemed legal. It happened to be that there was a lot of bacteria, animal bacteria, going into the stream because of it.”
Sarah Meyland, associate professor, and overseer of Center for Water Resources Management at NYIT, said that if a contaminant runs through the filter the water quality will improve quickly. “The goal was to run the water coming down the creek there through the filters so anything up upstream that was contributing to the bacteria and the other problems would be removed,” she explained.

The New York State Department of Conservation approved a remediation plan for Crescent Beach last year. In addition to installing the Helix systems, pipes and culverts will be cleared, which drain into the stream, and sea grass and other wetland plants will be planted to help lower bacterial levels. Glen Cove Department of Public Works has been waiting on permits from Nassau County to move forward.
“The next step will be a culvert repair that’s got to be done, which carries water through the culvert into the stream, and then we’re going to bring in specialized beach sand approved by the New York State DEC right at the beach,” Lou Saulino, director of Glen Cove City Department of Public Works said. “After all that is completed, we will ask them for testing, and hopefully the test results will be such that we brought down the contamination where we could open the beach.”
Since becoming a Nassau County legislator in 2012, DeRiggi-Whitton has worked tirelessly to improve the beach’s environmental health. “I know people are tired of hearing about it, but I am still plugging away at this,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “I am not going to stop until its open.”
Last year, she was able to secure funding from the county for an intermunicipal agreement with the city to aid in the project. She received about $12 million in funding, with $10 million to be designated to help with the sewage lines. So far, roughly $20,000 have been used for studies and the environmental planting at the wetlands. Because the pollution was not caused by human waste, but the bacteria left by animal droppings, the sewage line funding has been relatively untouched. Overall, no taxpayer money has gone toward the installation of the Helix systems.
“The whole purpose of the initiative here is to bring those levels down,” Saulino added.
Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton has worked with researchers like Sarah Meyland, Nassau County Department of Environmental Conservation, H2M architects and engineers and former Glen Cove Mayor Tim Tenke to determine the cause of the contamination and devise a strategy to improve the harbor’s health.  
Glen Cove has three beaches: Pryibil Beach and Fishing Pier, Morgan Memorial Park, and Crescent Beach. For at least 10 years, out of the three, Crescent has been closed to bathers.
“The reason it’s closed is because the bacteria level in the stream that runs right next to the beach was really high,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “It was 1,000 times higher than it was supposed to be at one point. Now it’s a little bit lower.”
As plans to clean the water and the beach continues to move forward, the city aims to have the beach reopened for the summer. “We’re hoping Crescent will be open to the public on Memorial Day,” Glen Cove Mayor Pam Panzenbeck said.  
“I spent my childhood at Crescent beach,” she recalled. “It’s just a beautiful, calm, quiet, relaxing place to sit. Let’s hope this is the solution.