Thursday, October 1, 2026
Rep. Laura Gillen unveiled that more than $1 million in federal funding is on its way to help replace one of the region’s oldest water plants and improve the safety of drinking water for residents of Hempstead village.
Standing with Mayor Waylyn Hobbs Jr., Trustee Tanya Carter, and resident activist Mary Purdie at the Hempstead Water Department, Gillen said on Tuesday that the village will receive the federal grant to support upgrades at the water treatment facility — a plant now more than 100 years old.
“Hempstead has suffered from legacy water contamination, crumbling infrastructure and unacceptable water quality that has long been ignored by the federal government,” said Gillen, who represents many communities across Nassau County.
The announcement follows growing community concern over the presence of PFAs — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — in local water sources. These manmade chemicals have been linked to serious health risks, including cancer.
“After local officials found alarming levels of cancer causing PFAs in the drinking water, the need for federal help was not just necessary, it was urgent,” she said. “Clean drinking water, as we all know, is essential for the health of any community and the families here in Hempstead should not have to worry about developing life threatening illnesses every time they turn on the tap.”
Carter praised the village’s leadership and advocacy.
“We have wonderful people that we have elected, and they have not forgotten about any one of us,” she said. “When we turn on our tap water, we want to make sure that everyone is drinking safe water.”
Purdie, a village resident who presented Gillen with hundreds of signatures following a party, demanding urgent help, sparked the push for federal funding.
“She said, “We need clean water here in Hempstead, I’m giving you these signatures, and if I vote for you, you got to promise me that you will not forget the people of Hempstead,” Purdie said.
“I promised Miss Purdie, I promised the mayor that if I got to Hempstead, I’d fight for every resident to get access to the clean water that they deserve, because it should not matter where you live to determine whether or not your water is cancer free,” Gillen added.
Hobbs said the funding is a critical step for the largest village in the state.
“We deserve to make sure that all of our elected officials from local, state and federal level come through for the residents of the Village of Hempstead, and you [Gillen] have and you have delivered, and we’re excited about it,” he said.
In total, the project is expected to cost nearly $50 million. So far, the village has received $1 million from Nassau County, nearly $37 million from New York state, and the new $1 million federal grant. Roughly another $11 million is needed.
“Without that help, this project would have cost close to maybe $50 million and so we didn’t have the bond for $50 million dollars, which would have been on the burden of the taxpayers,” Hobbs said. “It’s with this grant from our Congresswoman, from the state level, our governor, and even on the county level, that we have been able to take a big chunk out of this project.”
Hobbs said the village would continue working to secure the additional $15 million in funds.
“We’re going to continue to seek any federal or state funding we can get,” he said. “There’s always more money out there to address this issue.”
Gillen noted that many municipalities who applied for money in the 2025 appropriations process did not receive anything, and she wants to change that.
“Many of the projects that municipalities seek to fund are very expensive, so we make sure that there’s a concrete plan that they have in place, and they have the funding to complete the project, that’s really important in the application process,” she said.
The fight for clean water goes beyond Hempstead, “Water contamination is not something that’s unique to Hempstead,” Gillen added. “We have problems with the Grumman plume, we have problems all across Long Island and in fact, across our country, with these emerging contaminants in our water.”
