Public meetings on Nassau sewage plan

Nassau County Legis. Carrié Solages (D-Elmont), Legis. Dave Denenberg (D-Merrick) and We the People Save Our Waters Coalition will host two community meetings this week to discuss Nassau County’s proposal to hire a private operator to manage the county’s sewage treatment plants at Cedar Creek, Bay Park and Glen Cove.

The meetings will take place tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the Elmont Public Library at 700 Hempstead Tpke., and on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Bellmore Memorial Library at 2288 Bedford Ave.

The forums will focus on how the proposed plan might impact sewer taxes, the county’s budget and its debt, and possibly result in usage fees, organizers said.

County officials have said they hope to get at least $750 million for Nassau from the proposed public-private partnership with New Jersey-based United Water — the world’s second-largest private water systems operator. The funds would go to reduce Nassau’s $3 billion debt, including $465 million owed by the Sewer Authority, officials have said.

Nassau would maintain ownership of the system, which serves about 1 million customers, and the contract would stipulate that the county would continue to set usage rates, officials said.

United would manage the Bay Park and Cedar Creek sewage treatment plants, 53 sewage pumping stations and 3,000 miles of sewers for at least 20 years. Severn Trent Services would continue to manage the county’s Glen Cove plant for the next eight years, officials said.

Nassau and United Water will host informational meetings on Wednesday at the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant and Thursday at the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building in Mineola. No times have been set.

Above: The Bellmore Memorial Library at 2288 Bedford Ave. (April 2, 2012)