By Charlie Lefkowitz, Chairman, Suffolk County Water Authority
The Suffolk County Water Authority has a plan to address the long-term water supply in Southold. The North Fork Pipeline will address a real and growing crisis: there simply isn’t enough water available during peak summer demand. When temperatures rise, water demand skyrockets. In Southold, our system can’t keep up and that causes customers to experience water coming out of their taps at a trickle. Our storage tanks run dry and our ability to support emergency services is strained. This isn’t a future scenario. This is happening now.
Unfortunately, some recent commentary about this project has misrepresented both the need for the pipeline and what it will actually do. Let’s set the record straight.
First, the Suffolk County Water Authority is a not-for-profit public benefit corporation. We are not a private company and don’t have shareholders. We do not earn a profit by selling more water. Our rates are set to cover operating costs, infrastructure investments and compliance with strict water quality regulations—not profit. In fact, we’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars encouraging Southold residents to use less water, including through customer rebates for smart irrigation devices and advertising campaigns on conservation.
The thought that we could conserve our way out of this problem is not realistic. We’ve urged local governments across the East End for years to enact enforceable water conservation ordinances. We’ve asked for mandatory watering schedules, restrictions on irrigation system run times and policies that help us manage peak demand. Those calls have gone, for the most part, unanswered, even after back-to-back summer emergencies in 2022 and 2023. We still encourage those efforts and are happy to see the Town of Southold finally considering restrictions.
Now we must act to protect both water quality and public safety.
The North Fork Pipeline will let us move water from existing SCWA wells in areas where supply is strong, plentiful and sustainable to areas where it is not. Importantly, this is not new water—it’s a shift in where the water comes from, with the goal of reducing stress on wells in Southold and easing off the North Fork aquifer. In fact, we hope this project allows us to scale back or even retire certain North Fork wells that are showing signs of stress, including rising chloride levels—an early warning sign of saltwater intrusion that, if left unchecked, can permanently contaminate a well.
Some have thrown around large numbers suggesting this project will bring vast amounts of water to the North Fork. That’s simply not true. The pipeline’s maximum capacity is 6,000 gallons per minute or about half of our current pumping capacity in Southold. But we don’t expect to run it anywhere near that full capacity most of the time. In typical use, it will run at less than half that rate, and in the winter months, far less. What this pipeline offers is resilience and flexibility, not unchecked growth.
Speaking of growth, let’s be clear: SCWA has no role in zoning or land use decisions. We do not—and legally cannot—decide where or how development happens. That is entirely in the hands of local government. Our job is to provide reliable water service to existing residents and businesses. Even if there was never a new home built again in Southold, this pipeline would still be necessary to meet current demand and protect the aquifer.
Lastly, let me address Orient. We are not planning a pipeline to Orient. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services asked us to investigate the feasibility of expanding public water there after finding significant PFAS contamination in some private wells. As we considered that request, it became clear that any potential expansion would require the North Fork Pipeline to be in place first. Because of environmental review laws, we’re required to evaluate the combined impact of both projects—even if the Orient expansion never happens. That review is not a commitment to build. Any such decision would be made with the community, not imposed on it.
We understand that major infrastructure projects often raise questions and concerns. But those concerns should be based on facts. The North Fork Pipeline is about solving an urgent problem, protecting our aquifer and ensuring safe, reliable water for all of Southold.