By Sarah Moskowitz
Last month the NRDC released "Cape May to Montauk: A Coastal Protection Report Card," which assesses ecosystem health. Studies were conducted on the bight, or bend in the Atlantic coastline, to examine land use, water quality and open space in the landscape. Bay Park earned its placement on the "dirty dozen dischargers" list with 83 violations in two years of the five-year study. The study investigated 448 facilities.
The point of the study was for municipalities to realize the importance of the ecosystem and to "take ownership of the region" by determining who contributes to pollution, said Carolyn Summers, the primary author of the report. Summers stressed that the study focused on the region as a whole rather than on specific areas.
"It's one ecosystem," said Summers. "We try and get that point across."
Nassau County Commissioner of Public Works Peter J. Gerbasi called the NRDC's use of seven-year-old data distressing. "The data is so old...it's very surprising to us," said Gerbasi. "It's very disappointing that they would issue a report without updating the information to show recent activity."
The Bay Park Plant is county-owned and has been in operation since 1950. Although it is located in East Rockaway, it also serves the portion of Nassau County that is west of Baldwin, which is known as disposal districts 1 and 2.
The plant treats sanitary waste water, removing unwanted, "settleable" solids -- grit, sand and other bits and pieces -- by biologically treating the materials, using air to break them down. Treated water is then discharged into Reynolds Channel, between Long Island's south shore and Long Beach island.
Recent violations not included in the study, including eight in 2001 and five this year, have been for undisposed settleable solids, according to Gerbasi. He said Bay Park does not have problems with fecal coliform, which is associated with human waste, or total suspended solids, the outgoing matter that measures plant performance, or any other health or aquatic concerns.
Gerbasi said there is no certain figure to expect when measuring settleable solids, because as waste flow varies throughout the day, so do calculations.
"You won't be able to go back and figure out exactly what caused the problem," said Gerbasi, "because there are slight exceedances that, if you go back and do the test again, even that same day, you might find that you didn't violate the permit."
As reported to the state Department of Environmental Conservation by the Bay Park Plant, measurements of settleable solids indicated that the plant exceeded its permit limit of 0.3 milliliters per liter. Tests are conducted daily, said Gerbasi.
Between 1995 and 1999, the plant reported an average of 16 excursions, or exceedances, per year.
Gerbasi said he believes the number of violations has been low in the past two years because a fifth aeration tank was added to the Bay Park facility in 2001. The tank blows tons of oxygen into as much as 75 million gallons of water each day, or even more if the weather is rainy. The county Department of Public Works' decision to build the almost $20 million tank was not in response to any violation, said Gerbasi.
In addition, the plant was enclosed to control odors within the last year.
The DEC sent Bay Park Plant a notice of violation in November 2000 for its number of excursions of settleable solids. According to Bill Fonda, DEC spokesman, the plant responded and is making improvements in its chlorinization and aeration processes. Because of these efforts, the DEC did not assess a fine.
"The overall trend is that they have shown a decrease in these excursions," said Fonda. "They did show us some progress and we didn't have any enforcement based on that violation."
Fonda added that the plant is still being monitored by the DEC.
Regardless of its write-up on the "dirty dozen dischargers" list, Gerbasi said, the Bay Park plant runs smoothly. "Bay Park Treatment Plant [is] state of the art, fully up to date, and we're constantly improving [it] to the point that [it is] on par with the best sewage treatment plants anywhere in the country," said Gerbasi.
