Nassau Health Dept.: Gold Coast mansion's sewer pipe capped

A pipe that discharged sewage into wetlands adjacent to Crescent Beach in Glen Cove has been sealed with concrete, but the owner could still face legal action, Nassau County Department of Health officials said.

Last month, the health department and the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued violations to Marvin Schein, whose Gold Coast mansion was the source of the sewage.

Schein, 72, said this week that the problem was resolved.

But DEC officials said in a statement that there are "ongoing settlement negotiations. . . . These violations issued to Mr. Schein have not been modified, revoked or withdrawn."

Health department spokeswoman Mary Ellen Laurain said in an email that inspectors last week confirmed the pipe was sealed. Last month, the health department issued violations to Schein, saying the flows were "a public health hazard."

Then the DEC fined Schein $15,000 and ordered him to remove the pipe.

Schein, who hired an engineer to confirm that the pipe was sealed, said the issue had been overblown. "It turns out that the water leaving the pipe is actually beneficial to the wetlands because it wasn't black water, it was water coming off of the leaching system," he said. "It was like filtered water and that kind of carries nutrients -- the engineer said -- and that's a good thing and that's really what the wetlands should have."

DEC spokesman Bill Fonda disagreed in an email. "Waste water from a residential cesspool, directly discharged to a wetland or to the side of a road, would be a threat to the receiving water body and a public health threat as well," he said.

Engineers hired by Glen Cove found the pipe was leaking last month when they were looking for sources of contamination that have kept Crescent Beach closed to the public since 2009.

Schein said his property was not the source of contamination and that he swims at the beach. "There's no fecal matter going through my pipe into the wetland," he said.

But Laurain of the health department said the pipe was a culprit. "The discharge is a contributing factor to the water quality at Crescent Beach," she said. "We tested it for fecal coliform and enterococci, and the results were indicative for sewage."

Schein has known about the problem since at least 2011, health department officials said.

The pipe runs under a dirt road; and Schein said bulldozers caused the recent leak. He said he had the pipe capped whenever he learned it was leaking.

When Newsday visited the site last month, the pipe was spurting streams of water like a drinking fountain into the wetlands.

"The discharge was illegal," said Glen Cove Mayor Ralph Suozzi. He said it was up to the regulatory agencies to determine whether Schein is now in compliance.