By Phil Corso
It was a happy ending after all for Douglaston resident Eugene Loewy, whose calls have apparently been answered to fix a faulty water main near his home.
According to Loewy, a water main break more than one year ago still disturbed the residents around 39th Road in Douglaston as repairs were not adequate enough to keep water from leaking onto the street.
But to Loewy’s delight, the city Department of Environmental Protection appeared to have already repaired the leaky main one week after a Little Neck Ledger made an inquiry to the agency about the problem.
“A simple visit to the location showed that the water was still seeping up through the pavement and down the street,” Loewy said before the leak was fixed this week. “You can hear it.”
The DEP did not return phone calls asking for clarification on the matter.
Before the leak was fixed, Loewy said he had reached out to the DEP and City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone), but to no avail. He said that according to the DEP, the leak was from an underground spring and was not related to the main break more than a year ago.
Halloran’s office said an investigation into the leak also led to the same conclusion with the DEP insisting it was not related to the water main break and therefore was not an issue that needed its oversight.
“There’s no way it’s an underground spring,” Loewy said. “It never existed before they dug up the street.”
While visiting the allegedly leaky area Monday, the Little Neck Ledger encountered two trucks repaving the road, sealing the leak that Loewy had reported.
Loewy said he was glad to finally see the problem taken care of.
Reach reporter Phil Corso by e-mail at pcorso@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
