Suffolk County Water Authority contractors this week began replacing of 3,935 feet worth of old, undersized water main in Bellport, improving the neighborhood’s distribution network and ensuring proper fire protection for area residents.
Undersized transite water main along Michigan Avenue and Patchogue Avenue will be replaced with new larger diameter ductile iron pipe, which is more resistant to breaks, will improve fire flow and is expected to last well over 100 years. “Tie-ins” will be installed at Martha Avenue, Hampton Avenue, Brookhaven Avenue and Post Avenue to improve system flow and overall resiliency.
“I am happy to partner with the Suffolk County Water Authority to bring a clean and reliable water source to the residents of Bellport,” said Suffolk County Legislator Jim Mazzarella, who represents Bellport. “The Water Authority has been extremely helpful to my office and I look forward to working with them on other projects throughout my Legislative District.”
SCWA contractors will be installing the new pipe over the next two weeks, working from Martha Avenue towards Patchogue Avenue. Following completion of the main installation, residential connections will be switched from the old main to the new main. According to SCWA Pipeline Inspector Andrew Skurka, residents should only be without service for about 10 minutes while the switch is made. SCWA representatives will knock on doors to inform residents when it’s their turn to be switched over. All fire hydrants along the project route will also be replaced with newer models.
"We identified this section of Bellport for a proactive water main improvement project because we saw how much they could benefit from additional tie-ins,” said SCWA Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Operations Joe Pokorny. “These blocks were serviced by existing water main, but not every street was connected underground. When a network of pipes is all connected it prevents water from sitting stagnant, which can improve water quality in addition to fire flows in the event of an emergency”
The Bellport improvements are part of SCWA’s system-wide infrastructure improvement plan. SCWA is responsible for maintaining more than 6,000 miles of water main across its service territory.
The Suffolk County Water Authority is an independent public-benefit corporation operating under the authority of the Public Authorities Law of the State of New York. Serving approximately 1.2 million Suffolk County residents, the Authority operates without taxing power on a not-for-profit basis.