Sewer System Combination (2014 LGAA)

Village of Great Neck (Winner)
County: Nassau County
Population: 5,001 to 10,000
Village Hall: (516) 482-0019

More than a decade ago, the EPA mandated that nitrogen discharges into Long Island Sound be reduced. The NYS DEC then mandated that the two sewer systems on the Great Neck peninsula that were built in the 1930s reduce their nitrogen output. Neither plant could be upgraded to meet the requirements. Diversion of the influent to a Nassau County plant on the south shore of Long Island (Great Neck is on the north shore) was studied as was the reconstruction of both plants and the combination of the collection systems so that one larger plant could process all of the influent. The Village of Great Neck plant served about 2/3 of the Village and processed about 1/3 as much as the other plant. That other plant, the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District plant, is owned and operated by a Town of North Hempstead special district. It served the balance of the Village's properties as well as properties in certain other villages and the town.

In 2008, an intermunicipal agreement was entered into by the Village and the District providing, among other things, that the District would rebuild its plant (at a cost of approximately $60 million), the Village would convey its collection system and pump stations to the District, the District would defease the Village's collection system bonds, the Village would pay a proportionate share of the District's construction debt payments until the combination was complete, the Village would make a payment to the District to proportionally increase its reserve, the District would pay for capital improvements by the Village until the combination was complete, and the District would offer employment to the Village's employees at their salaries at the time of combination. The combination took place in December 2013, almost five years to the day after the signing of the IMA.

These communities now have one new, "state of the art" plant operated by the District, and the District has been expanded to cover its entire collection system. The estimated savings to the residents and businesses is $835,000 per year. The estimated savings of building the one larger plant rather than two smaller ones was almost $10.5 million.

The Village's plant has been decommissioned and is being demolished. The Village plans to relocate its Department of Public Works facilities and its Village Hall to new, green, modern and more serviceable buildings and facilities on the old plant site. The old Village DPW site is on the Village's main street and will be sold for much needed multifamily, including workforce, housing.

The new plant is much more energy efficient and removes or reduces, in addition to nitrogen, other materials that were not previously removed. It is also much less costly to operate than two plants. It's equipment and vehicles run on bio-fuel which the plant produces (saving $7,000 annually). It will also have micro-turbines (saving $100,000, 20-25% of its electric costs annually) and it has solar panels (saving $15,000 a year).

This project is an example of service consolidation at its finest. It was carefully analyzed, from cost, environmental and quality of service perspectives, fully thought out, agreed to in advance and well planned and implemented. And as a result, the Village of Great Neck no longer has to tax its residents or businesses for sewer service and there are no sewer operations demands on Village departments and staff.