Navy to give update on projects targeting contamination in Bethpage

The Navy is hosting a public meeting Wednesday to discuss ongoing cleanup projects in the Bethpage area to treat soil and groundwater contamination dating back to aerospace manufacturing operations between the 1930s and 1996.

The restoration advisory board meeting about the Naval Industrial Reserve Plant in Bethpage will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Bethpage Senior Citizen’s Center at 103 Grumman Rd. W.

The meeting is open to the public.

The first 30 minutes will be an open forum with representatives from the Navy’s Environmental Restoration Program, state officials and community members serving on the advisory board. Updates on groundwater investigations and other probes will be discussed.

The Navy and what is now Northrop Grumman manufactured and tested airplane and space exploration vehicles, including the Apollo lunar module, on the more than 600-acre site.

Groundwater contamination was discovered in the late 1940s and volatile organic chemicals found in the mid-1970s. The site was added to the state’s Superfund program in 1983 and are subject of several cleanup plans. Both the Navy and Northrop Grumman are listed as responsible parties charged with containing and cleaning up contamination.

Recently, the state pressured Northrop Grumman to speed up construction of a treatment well in Bethpage after a hot spot of contamination was found to have migrated off of the superfund site.

Documents about the cleanup efforts are on file at the Bethpage Public Library at 47 Powell Ave. or online at go.usa.gov/DyXF.