N
atural
R
esources
P
rotec ve
A
ssocia on
Coali on Against Water Disposal of Contaminated Sediments
Post Office Box 050328
Staten Island, NY 10305
718-873-4291
A Publica on of the
Fall 2016
In this Edi on
Executive Director
Ida Sanoff
CAWD
Director
Tony Rose
Staten Island Sport Divers
Director
Richard Chan
NRPA
President
Jim Scarcella
NRPA
Friends of Clearwater
Vice President
Charles Perry
Protectors of Pine Oak
Woods
Secretary
Daniel Ingellis
NRPA
Assistant Secretary
Tony Rose
Staten Island Sport Divers
Treasurer
Membership
Newsletter
Richard Chan
NRPA
Assistant Treasurer
John Malizia
S. I. Yacht Club,
S. I. Tuna Club, FCA
TRUSTEES
Dr. Martin Schreibman
Brooklyn College AREAC
Dr. John T. Tancredi
Molloy College
Andrew Willner
NY/NJ Baykeeper
(Ret)
Cindy Zipf
Clean Ocean Action
Page 1 Sewerage Plant Tour with DEP
Page 1-2 Lou Figurelli (Lemon Creek) Park Cleanup
Page 2 Faber Park Cleanup
Page 2 Alice Austen House Beach Cleanup
In Memory of Edward “Kerry” Sullivan
Page 3 The Largest Container Ships Ever Built
Have Now Made It To New York Harbor
Page 3-4 Sea Turtles At Englewood Beach, FL
Page 4-5 Interesting Theories About Lyme Disease
Page 5 Upcoming Events
SEWAGE PLANT TOUR WITH DEP
By Jim Scarcella
Part of NRPA’s mission is to keep our waters
clean. In keeping with that mission, NRPA
member Linda Cohen arranged a tour of the
Oakwood Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant
(WTCP) with the New York City Department
of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Office of
Public Participation. Plant operator Phil Ro-
cle welcomed us to the Oakwood Beach facil-
ity.
Parts of the facility date back to the 1950s
and the plant was renovated and expanded
significantly in the 1970s and the 1990s. The
plant uses a combination of mechanical and
biological processes to clean the stuff that
gets flushed down.
First, there is a separate place to remove sol-
ids like toilet papers and wipes. The wipes
are not bio degradable and foul up the initial
machinery of the WTCP facility. The smell
could be considered overpowering, but we all
contribute to it.
Then Mr. Rocle took us out to a separate
stairwell to visit the six pumps, which were
about 60 feet below sea level. The pumps
can handle 20 million gallons each, meaning
capacity is 120 million gallons per day. The
pumps use 200 horse power of electricity to
elevate elutriated particles up to the tanks.
In the aeration tanks, air is circulated by a
900 horsepower fan at a furious rate below
the tank and the water becomes a turbulent
mix of water, air and suspended solids. The
suspended solids are skimmed off the top
and bottom sludge is removed. The aeration
tanks hold 1.5 million gallons each.
Further on, the water is gravity fed to another
semi - enclosed area, the settlement tanks,
where the midges (tiny insects) eat some
bacteria and the improvement is noticeable.
The bio-solids (sludge) are heated and de-
watered, and poured into sludge tank trucks
for transport to the Bronx.
The water is then sent to tanks outside, close
to Oakwood marsh, and here the nearly clean
water is scientifically sampled to insure fecal
coliform and dissolved oxygen is at accepta-
ble levels. Also, there is some sodium hypo-
chlorite (the active ingredient in household
bleach) that is added to further reduce the
numbers of bacteria.
Next, there is a turbulent spillway and the wa-
ter is returned a half mile into the bay, at a
depth of about 25’. Then the natural water
cycle starts all over again, evaporation, cloud
saturation and precipitation.
Special thanks to the DEP team that keep the
WTCP's going 24/7/ 365 days a year, no
breaks, to provide us with good water quality.
Join NRPA today
See page 5
LOU FIGURELLI (LEMON CREEK) PARK
CLEAN UP
By Jim Scarcella
In June 2016, NRPA visited the home turf of
our founder Lou Figurelli at Lemon Creek
Park. Lou fought to protect the bay while liv-
ing on a house boat that was docked at a slip
on the creek. The park is beautiful, and was
renovated in 2000. It's clear that the park has
multiple uses: Dog walkers, joggers, kids’
league soccer practice, boating, and fishing.
It's pretty clear that many fishermen carry a lot
of things in, but forget to carry it out. The park
also hosts a feral cat colony.
The first trash items we encountered were
twin twelve packs of Stella Artois and Hei-
neken Light, 24 bottles. Then there were
dead, unused menhaden, along with pungent
skate and bluefish remains.
There were paper plates, napkins and fast
food containers from picnics gone astray.
Also, it was sad to discover a plastic bag with
