Glen Cove to borrow for well water pollution-cleaning equipment

Glen Cove city officials plan to borrow more than twice as much money for capital projects this year as in 2017, with most of the increase going to fund efforts to fight Freon 22 contamination that has closed two city drinking water wells.

“We don’t have a choice,” Mayor Timothy Tenke said. “It has to be done. Water is that critical.”

The city council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on authorizing $8,891,350 in bonds for capital improvements, including $3,575,000 related to installing Freon-removing air strippers. Last year, the council approved $4,191,117 in capital bonds.

Glen Cove officials expect to spend many millions more in the coming years to outfit all six city water wells with air strippers, which, in addition to removing Freon 22, are more effective than currently used equipment in stripping out other contaminants, Tenke said.

Nassau County ordered two water wells closed — one in November, the other in January — after elevated levels of Freon 22 were found. The county health department on March 28 approved the city’s request to reopen one of the wells after Freon 22 levels dropped. It is expected to be online by the end of this month.

Freon 22 is commonly found in air conditioners and other cooling equipment. Health effects on humans from Freon 22 in drinking water are unclear, but studies in laboratory animals have shown that exposure to high levels of airborne Freon 22 cause nervous system and heart problems, according to the state Department of Health.

The city is borrowing $858,000 this year to buy and install the shell of a used air stripper, plus new equipment to go along with it, for the two shuttered wells. The used air stripper is an interim measure — especially during the high-water-use summer months — while a permanent air stripper is installed over the next 12 to 18 months at another well, officials said. That well has been closed since 2011 because of Freon 22 and structural issues, and the work to reopen it with the air stripper is expected to cost $4.7 million, with more than half coming from this year’s borrowing.

All of the unanticipated Freon-related spending comes as the city works to stabilize its finances and reduce its debt, which was more than $52 million at the end of 2017, down from about $62 million in late 2013. Moody’s Investor Service’s most recent report on Glen Cove, on March 20, lauded “recently improved financial results” and gave the city a “positive outlook” but kept Glen Cove’s bond rating at Baa 2, the second-lowest investment-grade level.

Tenke said the millions that will spent to address the Freon 22 problem “does hurt us when we’re trying to get on our feet financially.”

Other major projects slated to be funded by the new bonds include the repair of a damaged sea wall, trucking in sand to beaches eroded by the March nor’easters, planning and design work for a new multipurpose athletic field south of Glen Cove Creek, and road and drainage improvements citywide.