By Howard Koplowitz
Residents of 248th Street in Bellerose are complaining that it took the city Department of Environmental Protection one week to shut off a water hose that had been turned on on the block.
Georgianna Spitareli said the agency ran a hose from a fire hydrant on 248th Street to a catch basin near her home.
Spitareli said the hose had been spraying water into the air until a fire truck placed it into a sewer main.
“It’s a hassle,” she said. On Sunday “it sprayed up into the air all day.”
Spitareli said a neighbor used the hose to wash his car and kids squirted each other with it over the weekend.
“The kids are going there with their bathing suits,” said Lucy DeFranceschi of the North Bellerose Civic Association, who lives a block away from the incident.
Bruno DeFranceschi, the president of the civic, credited state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) with rectifying the situation, saying the agency sent a truck just hours after he notified Padavan about the hose.
“He probably was the one who got (DEP) to move,” he said.
“I guess we did it,” Padavan said.
Spitareli said the DEP was changing manhole covers in the area and the hose damaged a valve that cuts off water coming into her home.
The 248th Street resident said she was angered the city was wasting the water and noted there were three 311 complaints filed.
“We get water bills telling you to preserve your water and the city is wasting this water for a whole week,” she said. “It’s a whole week that this water is being dumped into the sewer. Thousands of gallons of water are being wasted uselessly.”
But Spitareli said she was relieved the situation was corrected.
“Thank God it’s done because I had to police it,” she said. “The kids were the ones we had to be careful of.”
Bruno DeFranceschi complained that the agency ignored the 311 calls until Padavan stepped in.
“It’s a shame that we call an agency that’s supposed to do the work and they don’t want to talk to you,” he said.
Making matters worse, Spitareli said, a company contracted by the DEP had a truck “just sitting there” before the agency sent its own truck Monday night.
She said a man from the company used a hose to wash off tools he was using, but the hose had not been turned off.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
