The History of the Bethpage Water District

    The Bethpage Water District was formed in May, 1923 as the Central Park Water District. The Town of Oyster Bay gave permission to form the district and sell bonds to fund the construction of two water wells and a water tower for the small predominantly farming community. The first Commissioners of the Water District were George Baldwin, Robert Chappell, and Harry Stolz. The district’s counsel was Stoll & Lawrence from New York City and our first engineering firm was Sidney Bowne of Long Island.

    Property was purchased at the intersection of Jackson Ave. and North Sheridan Ave., just south of the railroad tracks, for the two wells and a water tower. Well #1 was drilled at a depth of 104 feet and Well #2 at a depth of 220 ft. These wells supplied 200 to 235 gallons per minute each, translating to a maximum capacity of 600,000 gallons per day. The water storage tank was 125 feet high and held 100,000 gallons of water. This system supplied 65 lbs. of pressure to the customers of the district. Due to enlargement of the district and the increased demand for water, Well #3 was drilled in June of 1924, adding an additional 500 gallons per minute. At the same time, an office and garage building was built at the Jackson Ave. location. The district had 85 fire hydrants in service at the time.

    In 1926, George Baldwin was given the title of Superintendent of the District and Charles Romscho, Sr. became a member of the Board of Water Commissioners. A full-time clerk was also hired to work in the District office. In 1927, Superintendent Baldwin’s salary was $35 per week, and the clerk’s salary was $20 per week. Much of the water sold during this time was to local farmers. In 1929, Central Park Water District had 425 residential customers. Residential rates were $3 minimum rate for 6,000 gal of water, each quarter year. 100,000 gallons of water per quarter cost $40 at this time.

    Henry Holzmacher was elected to the Board of Water Commissioners in 1930. In 1931, the District bought its first truck, a ½ ton Chevrolet, at a cost of $536. In May, 1932, another new Commissioner was elected, Albert Lang, replacing Robert Chappell. During this time of the Great Depression, customers not paying their water bills were referred to the Town of Oyster Bay or to the Town of Hempstead for application to the delinquent tax rolls, as opposed to shutting off their water. In 1937, the District bought a new ½ ton truck for $390, with the lettering "Water District – Bethpage" painted on the doors, reflecting the recent name change of the community.

    As the years went by, rates changed every few years, and the district grew. In 1947 a new well, well #4 was installed on Haypath Road. In 1949, the Water District moved its office from Jackson Ave. to an office located in the new firehouse that had been built on Broadway. Well #5 on Haypath Road was put in service in 1950. In 1951 well # 4 was shut down & dismantled. In June of 1952, the name of the water district was changed to read "Bethpage Water District".

The District experienced rapid growth in the years following World War II, and expanded its facilities to provide water to the numerous new home developments that were being constructed in the Bethpage area.

    In 1952 a new well, #6, was put into operation at the end of Park Lane, west of Stewart Ave. This well had a capacity of 1,400 gallons per minute. In December of 1952 wells 1, 2 and 3 on Jackson Ave. were recommended to be shut down due to chromium found in the water, apparently from contamination from the neighboring Grumman Corp.

    Property was purchased on Adams Avenue for new water wells and a new 1,250,000-gallon elevated storage tank. This would become the new headquarters for the Bethpage Water District when an administration building and garage were built at 25 Adams Ave, in 1956. A new water Plant #4 was built in 1961 on the east end of Sophia Street, which included two high capacity wells and a new concrete ground level storage tank holding 1,500,000 gallons of water.  In 1965 Well #5-1 was installed on Broadway, south of Wilson Lane

    During the 1960’s and 1970’s wells were improved and deepened to improve water quality. In 1976, well # 6-1 on Park Lane was shut down due to contamination, which was ultimately shown to have come from the Grumman site. New property was secured from New York State Parks on Plainview Road and a new well, BGD #1 was built in 1979 in an area far away from the Grumman property.

    In the 1980’s and 1990’s the district spent much time and energy in securing firm financial commitments from Grumman Corp. and the U.S. Navy to install water treatment equipment to protect water plants 4, 5, and 6 from the effects of pollution from the Grumman property. New air stripper towers were installed to remove the volatile organic compounds that threatened these public supply wells. Grumman and the Navy paid for the construction of the stripping towers and for the improvements made to reconstruct these plants to protect our public water supply.

   In the late 1990’s, Grumman Corp. decided to sell large portions of its Bethpage property to private concerns. Since Grumman had previously supplied water to this property, this created a need for Bethpage Water District to supply water to new commercial customers in this area. Grumman paid for new water mains, new fire hydrants and a new 1,500,000-gallon water tower to supply these new commercial customers, again, at no cost to Bethpage customers.

    Currently, the Bethpage Water District continues to aggressively monitor the pollution from the former Grumman plant and to improve our facilities to provide high quality water to our customers, meeting all federal and state regulations.

    In 2005, a new Granular Activated Carbon (G.A.C.) water filtration plant was built at our Adams Ave. location to protect the two deep wells at our headquarters facility. We will continue to investigate future technology that can be used to protect our most precious natural resource.

   Today, the Bethpage Water District is still a relatively small water supplier, but now has 8,000 customers, a full-time staff of 12, and 107 miles of water mains within the district. We have all the efficiencies and technology of any modern municipal water system including stand by generators at all wells in the event of a power failure. The district has 8 public supply wells on 5 sites, with a total pumping capacity of over 11,000 gallons per minute. Our three large storage tanks can store 4,250,000 gallons of water for periods of peak usage.