The Glen Cove City Council on Oct. 14 accepted the lowest responsible bids on all three prime contracts for the Permanent Packed Tower Aeration Systems at the Duck Pond Road Station, the city's well station that is getting treatment to strip volatile chemicals from its raw water.
The three awards: general construction, Bid 2025-001, to J. Anthony Enterprises of Hauppauge for $6,150,000; plumbing, Bid 2025-003, to Bensin Contracting, Inc. of Holtsville for $6,253,420; and electrical, Bid 2025-002, to Eldor Contracting Corp. of Holtsville for $3,927,000. Together that is $16,330,420 in construction contracts. The plumbing contract is the largest of the three, slightly ahead of general construction, which is what a treatment job that is mostly pipe, pumps and towers looks like. The council's resolutions name only the winning firms; the other bids are not in the city's record. The board listing is RFI-000947.
The target is Freon-22, PCE and cis-1,2-dichloroethene in the water drawn at Duck Pond Road, according to an April 2025 release from Rep. Tom Suozzi's office announcing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had released $3,452,972 for the packed tower aeration system. That release put the project's total cost at $13.8 million, with the EPA money covering about a quarter. The council accepted the EPA grant on May 13, 2025.
The contract total runs $2,530,420, or 18.3%, above that $13.8 million figure, before any construction administration, inspection or contingency. The resolutions charge all three contracts to the same capital line.
Packed tower aeration works by trickling water down through a column of plastic packing while fans push air up through it; the volatile compounds leave the water and go out with the air. It is a common treatment for solvent contamination in groundwater, and it is a trade-heavy build: towers, blowers, piping, controls and a lot of electrical work.
Why this matters. Glen Cove split the job into separate prime contracts for general construction, plumbing and electrical, the way New York's Wicks Law requires on public work of this size. That spreads the risk, but it also means three primes to coordinate on one well site, and a city that now has to find the gap between the $13.8 million it talked about in April and the $16.3 million it signed up for in October.
What to do next. Tower and blower suppliers, controls and SCADA integrators, concrete and steel subs should reach J. Anthony, Bensin and Eldor now; each is a prime on its own scope. Watch the council's agendas for change orders and any added funding resolutions on this project.