Nassau County, a suburban county on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York (USA), is considering a long-term lease of its wastewater assets.

KPMG has already been appointed as financial adviser for the process. The County has also begun meetings with the Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA), a state agency created to oversee county business, to get green light for the wastewater concession.

Nassau County started a similar process in 2012 when it appointed Morgan Stanley as financial adviser and Malcolm Pirnie/ARCADIS as engineering consultant for a proposed 70 year wastewater concession.

According to Rob Walker, chief deputy county commissioner, this time the process is simplified due to the fact that the County has already executed a 20-year operation and maintenance (O&M) contract with United Water in September 2014. United Water took over operations in January 2015.

United Water has confirmed that it will achieve savings of US$379 million in terms of present value over the 20 years O&M contract.

Nassau County's wastewater system were damaged during the Superstorm Sandy. Close to US$1 billion in federal emergency relief funding has already been committed to repair and upgrade the system, specifically, federal emergency relief funding will be used to repair and upgrade the county's three treatment plants and pipes.