The Suffolk County Water Authority announced today that it is awarding a contract to Asplundh Construction, LLC to extend more than 20,000 feet of water main to homes in Manorville impacted by PFAS contamination, a major milestone in a multi-year effort to bring public water to the area. The $3.2 million contract came in lower than initial project estimates. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services assessed private wells, which are used to supply the homes with drinking water and discovered the presence of the carcinogenic chemicals PFOA and PFOS.
The first phase of the project will extend water main along Halsey Manor Road to reach homes in the vicinity of Primrose Path. Construction will begin this summer and is expected to take three months to complete. In the next phase, SCWA will connect residents to its system and supply them with reliable, high-quality drinking water. In total, 116 homes could be connected through this project by the end of the year.
“The residents of Manorville have been waiting for years to see this happen. Well, that wait is nearly over,” said SCWA Chairman Charles Lefkowitz. “A project of this magnitude, with funding from federal, state and local sources and nearly four miles of new water main takes a tremendous amount of effort. All that work is going to pay dividends because the residents will soon have access to the highest-quality drinking water with no out-of-pocket costs to connect.”
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine said, “There are very few communities on Long Island where well water is a clean, clear and contaminant-free option to the water that the Suffolk County Water Authority provides. The Town’s contribution of $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money also helped to move this project along on a faster pace. Our residents deserve the best and I commend the SCWA for their efforts to get this project started and for awarding the contract to a Brookhaven Town company to do the job. I look forward to being there when they turn on the tap.”
The project is funded by grants secured by SCWA. $3.5 million dollars from the US Environmental Protection Agency was made available by Senator Charles Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and former Representative Lee Zeldin. An additional $1.6 million Intermunicipal Grant is coming from New York State. Finally, the Town of Brookhaven has agreed to provide an additional $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. Without the $7.1 in grant funding, the project was expected to cost each resident tens of thousands of dollars.
In 2017, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services initiated an assessment of private supply wells in the area for PFOA and PFOS. Their testing showed the presence of the contaminant in levels above the current state standard of 10 parts per trillion.
PFOA and PFOS are fluorinated organic chemicals used in treatments to protect carpets, clothing, furniture fabrics, paper packaging for food and non-stick cookware. They are also used in firefighting foams. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, “human studies have found associations between PFOA and/or PFOS exposure and several types of health effects including the liver, the immune system, the cardiovascular system, human development (e.g., decreased birth weight), and cancer.”
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.