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Friday, August 8, 2025
Vol. 84, No. 32
SERVING BETHPAGE, OLD BETHPAGE, AND PLAINVIEW
TOWN HOLDS STOP PROGRAM
Hempstead Town Clerk Kate Murray assisted Roger Clerk of Levittown as they participated in the Town of Hempstead Stop Throwing Out Pollutants (S.T.O.P.) Program on July 19 at Levittown Parking Field L2. This program allows residents to dispose of harmful pollutants – such as antifreeze, drain cleaners and pesticides – in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.
Fire damages Levittown home
A home on Hollyhock Road in Levittown was extensively damaged by fire on Tuesday, July 29. According to Nassau County Police, officers
responded to the fire at 7:50 p.m. The Levittown Fire Department and neighboring fire departments responded to extinguish the flames.
Multiple firefighters were treated at scene for minor injuries. Police say the fire has been deemed not suspicious at this time.
The Bethpage Newsgram is published every Friday by Litmor Publishing Corp. Periodical Postage paid at Hicksville, N.Y. 11801 Telephone 931-0012 - USPS 3467-68. Postmaster: Send Address Change to: The Bethpage Newsgram, 821 Franklin Ave., Suite 208, Garden City, N.Y. 11530 • Meg Norris Publisher
Water district warns about testing scams The Hicksville Water District (HWD) has reported that it was recently contacted by a local resident about a water testing kit that they received in the mail from a private company based in Bay Shore. This issue has come up in the past, and the HWD wants to remind residents that, unlike the District’s samples, the results of these tests are unreliable and are not verified by the Nassau County Health Department. The HWD urges residents to proceed with caution when engaging with these companies that are trying to take advantage of them strictly for their own profit. “The companies that send out these testing kits to residents are simply trying to pressure them into purchasing their home water filters based on questionable water sample results,” said HWD Chairman Nicholas Brigandi. “The results provided by these tests are likely to be inaccurate and do not reflect the actual quality of the Hicksville Water District’s drinking water. We have invested more than $50 million in the installation of the most state-of-theart treatment technology available to ensure that our water meets and exceeds all state and federal guidelines before it is distributed to residents’ homes.” The resident who notified the HWD of the scam received a text message from the filter company saying that she should be concerned about her water and that they would send a representative to her home with a “special filter system” to fix it. They would only speak about her results
verbally over the phone and not in writing, adding to the suspicious nature of the interaction. Luckily, this resident denied a home visit and contacted the HWD for clarification. Residents who receive a testing kit that they suspect to be fraudulent should notify the HWD and file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and the office of the New York State Attorney General. The HWD routinely tests its water for more than 170 parameters at treatment facilities designed by engineers and approved by the health department. The District budgets more than $250,000 per year for testing and each round of testing costs more than $2,000, all of which are conducted by New York State Health Department-certified water plant operators. The tests conducted by these private filtration companies are not regulated and do not sample nearly enough water. “Free testing cannot be relied upon for accuracy or for determining the need for any water treatment,” continued Brigandi. “Those tests collect a couple milliliters of water while we collect gallons of water to be sampled each time we do it. Providing high quality water to our residents is our mission and we have decades of water quality reports that show we are succeeding.” Every year, the HWD releases its annual drinking water quality report in accordance with the New York State Health Department. Residents can view the report on the District’s website at www.hicksvillewater.org/ hwd/water-quality-report.
Bethpage Extended School Year Program PAGE 4 Patriotic display at Northside School PAGE 6