The Port Washington Water District is constructing Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) treatment systems at two of its treatment facilities to address the minimal detections of 1,4-dioxane, PFOA and PFOS in some of the District’s supply wells.
The facilities under construction include the Hewlett and Christopher Morley Park Stations, accounting for a combined four of the District’s wells. In addition, a project to add treatment to the Stonytown Station is currently being publicly bid and will enter the construction phase this fall.
Work on these facilities is expected to be completed or near completion in the spring of 2024, with the first facility, Hewlett, expected to come online before the summer 2023.
“The Port Washington Water District has taken the issues presented by emerging contaminants very seriously and we are proud that all of the required planning, testing, approvals and design have been completed and the construction of these systems are underway,” said PWWD Commissioner Mindy Germain. “These state-of-the-art treatment facilities will ensure our drinking water remains of the highest quality throughout our community. That is something our community can be excited about.”
Over the course of the last several months, foundations, building walls and masonry were completed for the new AOP treatment and booster building at the Hewlett Well 4 Station. The mechanical contractors are beginning the installation of the treatment equipment processes within the buildings.
The construction is scheduled to be substantially completed by April 2023 and the plant will be in service shortly thereafter. Construction of treatment for Wells 8, 9 and 11 at the Christopher Morley Park Station is expected to be substantially completed in May 2024.
Another project, to add AOP and nitrate treatment to the Stonytown Station is currently being publicly bid and will enter the construction phase this fall. Once construction is underway at Stonytown Well 10, which is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2022, the facility will be offline until the work is complete. It is expected that the facility will be operational by the second quarter of 2024.
“These projects represent the culmination of several years of planning to tackle the most significant infrastructure projects this District has ever undertaken,” said PWWD Commissioner Peter Meyer. “The District has worked tirelessly to ensure that our residents continue to receive top-quality water, despite the challenges we are facing and these treatment systems will ensure that this remains the case for generations to come.”
As the District will remain running at reduced capacity until work is complete, residents will continue to be required to follow the District’s water conservation guidelines in order to save the necessary 20% needed to keep the community’s water infrastructure operating without issue. Detailed instructions, along with tools and resources to conserve water, can be found at www.pwwd.org/conservation.
“While the installation of these treatment systems is going to not only improve upon our already high-water quality, but it is going to do so in a way that creates a more resilient and robust infrastructure for our community,” said PWWD Chairman David Brackett. “It is exciting that we are making significant progress on the construction front. However, we still need our residents to continue conserving water as much as possible. Our District has been and will continue to run at reduced capacity for some time and it is crucial that our community takes conservation seriously year-round to ensure our infrastructure that is in operation isn’t overburdened as these projects continue.”
