N.J. water utility eyes expansion on LI

The New Jersey water company that came under fire in a Facebook complaint campaign titled "I love Malverne but hate the brown water" said Monday it is planningt to expand its Long Island customer base by buying a rival's New York State operations.

American Water Works Co., of Voorhees, N.J., is seeking New York State Public Service Commission approval to supply drinking water to a 25-square-mile area of the Oyster Bay and Hempstead townships.

The communities to be added to American Water's customer base would be Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford, East Massapequa; and parts of North Merrick, North Bellmore, Levittown, Massapequa Park, Sea Cliff, Old Brookville, Roslyn Harbor, Glenwood Landing, Glen Head and Glen Cove.

American Water responded to its Malverne area complaints by flushing pipes and upgrading its filtration earlier this year.

If the purchase is approved, American Water will become the largest investor-owned water utility in the state.

"We are pleased to nearly double our customer base in Long Island and beyond and we look forward to the opportunity of providing quality water service to all of our new customers," Bill Varley, an American Water executive, said in a company announcement Monday. The company says that even before the proposed purchase it is the largest water supplier in Nassau County, with service to a population of 220,000.

It would buy a total of seven regulated water systems in New York State for about $71 million, adding about 152,000 people in four counties. It is buying systems from Aqua America Inc. In a parallel transaction, American Water Works will sell its regulated operations in Ohio to Aqua America.