Hicksville Water District Chairman Nicholas Brigandi, left of center; Commissioner Karl Schweitzer, center; Commissioner William Schuckmann, right of center; and Superintendent Paul Granger, far right; were joined by Nassau County Legislator Rose Marie Walker, third from left; Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino, third from right; Keith Presti, Legislative Aide from the Office of State Senator Steve Rhoads, second from left; Hicksville Chamber of Commerce President Charlie Razenson, back center; Hicksville-Jericho Rotary Club President Donna Rivera-Downey, second from right; and a number of local neighbors in celebrating the ribbon cutting of the award-winning Plant 8 in November of 2024.
State-of-the-Art Treatment Technology Went Online in 2024
The Hicksville Water District (HWD) is proud to announce that it recently received a Gold Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York (ACEC New York). Specifically, the award acknowledges the installation of two state-of-the-art Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) treatment systems and four Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) filters at the HWD’s Plant 8. The plant came online last year and is set to treat emerging contaminants in the community’s drinking water for years to come.
“It is an honor to be recognized by the ACEC for our accomplishments with Plant 8,” said HWD Chairman Nicholas Brigandi. “We work tremendously hard to make sure that our community receives the highest-quality water service possible, and this new treatment technology ensures that we will continue to do so for generations to come. We are grateful to the ACEC for this acknowledgment and we will continue to strive toward excellence in our future projects.”
The HWD was nominated for the award by H2M architects + engineers not only for the new technology in place, but also for the District’s ability to minimize the construction’s impact on the community. The efficiency with which the construction and installation was accomplished helped the District avoid taking other wells offline for too long a time. Additionally, the District was highly communicative with residents whose homes neighbor the plant throughout the construction process, addressing any concerns that they may have had regarding noise or the aesthetics of the plant. When improvements at the plant were complete, these residents were invited to take a tour and learn about the project that was going on next door.
Plant 8 represents a more than $14.1 million investment into the community’s drinking water treatment infrastructure. Its AOP and GAC technology enables it to produce 4 million gallons of drinking water with non-detectable levels of 1,4-dioxane, PFOS and PFOA every day. The District has invested a total of $70 million for all projects related to emerging contaminants, more than half of which has been funded by grants from New York State. For this project specifically, the HWD was awarded more than $7.1 million in grant funding for the project, significantly reducing the financial impact it would have on residents’ wallets. Plant 8 represents the fifth treatment plant online within the HWD, contributing to the District’s ability to distribute an average of 7 million gallons of high-quality drinking water to its residents daily, an amount which can double in the summer.
