The Town of Hempstead has moved forward with installing a filtration system at the Water Department facility on Prospect Avenue after noticing trace amounts of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in some of the water supply.

Operations Supervisor John Mark Walter recently spoke to members at the Council of East Meadow Civic Associations (CEMCO) meeting about what this development means to residents.

"When you know how high the demand for water is, we can’t afford to lose a well," Mark Walter said. "We have seen very small traces in two of the wells."

Commissioner John Reinhardt recently told the East Meadow Herald that the facility's water is still safe for drinking, although problems would ensue if no action were taken.

The compounds have been found in two of the Prospect Avenue location's four wells. To respond to this issue, six carbon vessels have been built for filtration purposes. Each of the affected wells will run through two vessels at a time. Levels will be monitored, and there will be two reserve vessels ready, which will help eliminate any downtime when it comes to changing out to the replacement vessels.

"When the water passes through this system, the VOCs adsorb into the carbon," Mark Walter added. "Each one of the grains is filled with nooks and crannies, and that will track these compounds."

Once the filtration system begins, which Mark Walter said should be just before the summer season, each of the vessels will pump 600 gallons per minute through the filtration system.

"We don’t want to be pumping [the VOCs] to the customers," Mark Walter said. "This was the most feasible option available at this location."