The Suffolk County Water Authority is seeking $28.6 million in federal funding for critical water infrastructure projects that would extend public water to a neighborhood in Manorville threatened by pollution, buy needed laboratory equipment and build a pipeline from the Central Pine Barrens to the Town of Southold to protect the North Fork’s fragile aquifer.
SCWA officials formally made the request to U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand as part of the Congressionally Directed Spending program, which had a May 26 deadline for initial submission.
As part of the application, SCWA requested $10 million to extend a pipeline from the Central Pine Barrens region to the Town of Southold to preserve and protect its shallow aquifer. Existing SCWA wells in the town have a limited capacity to pump enough water to serve local needs. It would be the first step of a long-term $26.2 million project aimed at ensuring an ample future water supply for that portion of SCWA’s service territory.
SCWA also requested just over $13 million to extend public water to 128 homes in Manorville where the perfluorinated compounds PFOS and PFOA have been detected in 15% of the neighborhood’s private wells.
The SCWA application also seeks $890,000 for equipment to proactively protect the drinking water of 1.2 million residents served by SCWA from emerging contaminants such as PFOS/PFOA and 1,4-dioxane. Last year, New York State approved among the most protective regulations for these chemicals in the country.
SCWA also requested $4,678,000 million to construct a two-million-gallon ground level water storage reservoir on Town Line Road in East Hampton Town to bolster the available supply of water during times of peak demand.
“These projects will help tremendously in our efforts to always provide an ample supply of drinking water that meets or surpasses all water quality standards, so I urge our elected officials to support these vital funding requests,” said SCWA Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey W. Szabo.
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.