Hempstead Village gets $37.2M state grant to help pay for water treatment facilities

The Village of Hempstead is closer to funding the construction of new water treatment facilities with the awarding of a $37.2 million New York State grant.

The grant, combined with $1.75 million in federal pandemic aid from the American Rescue Plan Act, brings the village closer to its goal of funding the $55 million project with state and federal funds. The village board in May approved issuing bonds for the full cost of replacing the existing facility on Clinton Street while also seeking state and federal funds to reduce the need to borrow and to lessen the burden on taxpayers.

“This, in my estimation, is going to go a long way toward getting the water filtration system in Hempstead up to modern standards,” Nassau County Legis. Scott Davis said. “It really helps take [the burden] off the shoulders of a community that can really least afford to shoulder that burden.”

Davis, a Democrat whose district covers part of the village, pushed to get the ARPA funds approved by a reluctant Republican majority in the county legislature. Republicans in the county legislature had balked at approving the funds until state and federal funds were approved.

“Nothing gets more basic really than clean water and that should transcend politics,” Davis said.

The new plant will meet higher water standards for chemicals including 1,4-dioxane and PFAS, and work to remove iron from the water supply. The village has been out of compliance with state water standards for 1,4-dioxane since at least 2021, according to village reports to the state.

The state grant will cover the first phase of the project, expected to cost $27 million to construct a new building that will use an advanced oxidation process to remove contaminants, including 1,4-dioxane, according to village documents.

New York State set new drinking water standards for PFAS and 1,4-dioxane contamination in drinking water in 2020. PFAS are chemicals the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has labeled as potentially carcinogenic.

Hempstead Village provides water to 59,169 full-time residents, according to the village.

Hempstead’s grant was part of $435 million in state funding for 102 water infrastructure projects across the state announced Nov. 1 by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The grants are awarded by the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp. and are intended to help local governments pay for water upgrades.

“New York is committed to funding water infrastructure upgrades because every person has a right to clean water,” Hochul said in a news release. “With this funding for communities across the State, we are providing critical resources to local economies, creating jobs and safeguarding the health and well-being of all New Yorkers.”