Water authority gets access to rival's info

The Water Authority of Southeastern Nassau County has been granted access to purchase negotiations between Aqua New York Inc. and American Water Works Co., despite the authority's interest in taking over Aqua.

The authority was given access in January by the New York State Public Service Commission, which oversees settlement negotiations pertaining to American Water's petition to buy Aqua, which is based in Merrick and serves parts of Hempstead and Oyster Bay towns, as well as the counties of Westchester, Washington and Ulster.

"We are very pleased with what we got out of it," authority chairman Richard Ronan said Friday. "It's a negotiation, so you don't get everything you like."

The water authority had to agree to keep the negotiations confidential.

A protective order relating to how American Water reached its valuation of Aqua remains intact, according to the procedural ruling issued by the public service commission on Feb. 22.

Also kept secret is the price American Water of Vorhees, N.J., is offering. Initially, it was $71 million.

A spokesman for Aqua referred questions to American Water. William Varley, president of Long Island American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, was unavailable for comment.

The authority will continue efforts to conduct a feasibility study weighing the costs and benefits of the authority taking over Aqua, Ronan said. The authority has the power to take over Aqua's service area on Long Island even if American Water's completes the purchase of Aqua, he said.

The Southeastern Nassau County water authority "needs to be commended for fighting for the taxpayers of Nassau County," said Claudia Borecky, president of the North and Central Merrick Civic Association, who has pushed for the study. "We are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel and have a renewed optimism that a public acquisition is not only possible, but probable."

Ronan said the authority put out more than 15 requests for proposal to firms along the East Coast that could conduct the study.

The authority will use $75,000 in funds committed by the towns of Hempstead and Oyster Bay in January to help fund the study, he said. The deadline for bids was Friday.

"This is a big step, and we are looking forward to getting these proposals," Ronan said.