Bethpage Water District Blog

Monday, February 4, 2019

When was the Bethpage Water District founded?

    The Bethpage Water District was formed in 1923 as the Central Park Water District. Central Park was the name of the town until it’s name change to Bethpage in 1936 but it wasn’t until 1952 the name of the district was officially changed to “Bethpage Water District”. Some of our older water valve caps are still inscribed with CPWD to represent the district’s original name.

    Our first property was purchased at the intersection of Jackson Avenue and North Sheridan Avenue. The original water tank (pictured) stood at 125’ tall and was built along with 2 wells, a garage and an administration office (which is now a residence) on Jackson Avenue. The concrete piers for the tank are still visible today. The original wells, which are no longer in service, produced 450 gallons per minute (gpm) or 650,000 gallons per day.

    Today, our maximum pumping capacity is just shy of 19 Million gallons per day. The original tank held 100,000 gallons of water compared to the 6.25 million gallons of water storage we have now. The District originally had 85 fire hydrants compared to the 1089 fire hydrants we now have and maintain annually. In 1929, we had 425 residential customers and the minimum rate was $3.00 for 6,000 gallons of water, while the minimum rate now is $12.50 for 10,000 gallons, which has to be the most modestly increased utility cost over 87 years.

    In 1949, the water district relocated its office to the new firehouse constructed on Broadway. Two wells were installed on Haypath road, near Tennis Court but were dismantled a few years later due to the construction of the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway.  As time went by and the town expanded, property was acquired in 1956 on Adams Avenue, north of Cherry Avenue, where the current administration building, garage and water tower were built.


    The district is in a constant state of expansion and improvement to keep up with the demand of the 33,000 residents over 5.5 square miles. We currently operate and maintain stations on Adams Avenue, South Park Drive, Plainview Road, Sophia Street, Broadway, Park Lane and Grumman Road.

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