Video Story: Restoring the Health of the Western Bays
The impact of Superstorm Sandy required Nassau County, NY to embark on a more than a decade-long journey to upgrade their wastewater infrastructure. The goal: revitalize the coastal marshlands and ensure water quality and storm resiliency for generations.
When Superstorm Sandy made landfall in late October 2012, it devastated coastal communities throughout the New York metro area, including Nassau County on Long Island. In the days following the storm, the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant (now the South Shore Water Reclamation Facility) - which served about 550,000 Nassau County residents - was declared a public health emergency.
Over the last decade, we have worked closely with the County to develop resilient facilities that can withstand even the most ferocious of storm events, while also helping to restore the natural environment. Efforts include constructing the most flood-protected facility in the eastern US, implementing biological nutrient removal (BNR) and a state-of-the-art Annamox® sidestream deammonification system to reduce nitrogen output to the environment, and a large-scale initiative to safely relocate effluent further offshore.
Eric Mills manages large program wastewater treatment and collection system initiatives.
