Rep. Nick LaLota presented Riverhead officials with an oversized ceremonial check Thursday representing $2.25 million in federal funding approved in January for a public water main extension serving Calverton homes with private wells affected or threatened by pollution from the former Navy and Grumman site.
The funding will help pay for Riverhead Water District Extension 95, a project expected to cost approximately $5.6 million and connect 28 homes west of Edwards Avenue along Railroad Avenue, Canoe Lake Drive, River Road and a private road south of River Road.
LaLota announced the award in January after Congress approved and President Donald Trump signed legislation containing funding for 10 Suffolk County community projects totaling $11.84 million. Thursday’s press conference outside Riverhead Town Hall provided a public backdrop for presenting the funding to town officials but did not represent a new funding award.
“Every Long Island family should have access to good, clean drinking water,” LaLota said Thursday morning at a podium outside Town Hall, flanked by County Executive Ed Romaine, Assembly Member Jodi Giglio, all five members of the Riverhead Town Board and Riverhead Water District Superintendent Frank Mancini.
Mancini said the district is assembling funding from several sources with different procurement requirements and expects work on the extension to begin soon.
“We’re putting all those pieces together now, and we expect to get this done soon,” Mancini said.
The $2.25 million award covers only part of Extension 95’s estimated $5.6 million cost. The balance will come from a portion of a $5 million grant announced in January 2024 through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Emerging Contaminants Fund, established under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
That earlier grant was divided between Extensions 95 and 96. Extension 96 is planned to serve 45 homes and six industrial properties along Middle Road, Deep Hole Road, Manor Road, Middle Country Road and Twomey Avenue.
See prior story: LaLota announces $2.25M for Calverton water main extension to serve area affected by former Grumman site pollution (Jan. 28)
Mancini said financing for the projects has been assembled incrementally over five years from multiple sources.
“It really has been a team effort,” he said. “These public water main projects allow us to deliver clean, safe drinking water to homes throughout Riverhead that still rely on private wells that are impacted by these contaminants.”
He credited current and former Town Board members with paying for the engineering work used to seek the grants and supporting the district’s efforts to secure funding.
The homes to be served by Extension 95 are southeast of the former Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant at Calverton, now known as the Enterprise Park at Calverton, or EPCAL. The Navy owned the property and leased it to Grumman Corp., which manufactured and tested military aircraft there.
Groundwater contamination from the former industrial site includes per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly called PFAS. The Navy continues to investigate and remediate contamination at the site but has resisted accepting responsibility for off-site groundwater pollution emanating from the property. It has begun investigating off-site contamination documented by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services.
See prior story: Navy plans PFAS treatment in Calverton amid criticism over cleanup pace, transparency (June 11)
Romaine said the homes near River Road are particularly important.
“Everyone deserves clean drinking water,” Romaine said. “The most important ones are the ones around River Road, which is right south of the plume from EPCAL, that we want to deal with and clean up and address, so it doesn’t affect other people.”
Romaine said he would attend a Suffolk County Water Authority event on Star Boulevard in Calverton after the Riverhead press conference. Water mains are being installed in the Peconic Lake Estates neighborhood using federal American Rescue Plan Act funding allocated by the county.
Giglio said residents along River Road had waited while other neighborhoods received public water connections.
“These people on River Road have been forgotten,” Giglio said. “They’ve kind of been pushed off to the side while other people got connected, and to finally get this funding to connect them — and to get them connected sooner rather than later — I look forward to drinking that first cup of water out of their tap.”
Riverhead Supervisor Jerry Halpin thanked LaLota for returning federal tax dollars to the community for infrastructure.
“This gets us closer to the next step,” Halpin said. “I look forward to breaking ground after the next round of funding comes in and … celebrating with each and every one of those families. They no longer have to think about what most of us take for granted each and every day.”
Council Member Bob Kern thanked LaLota and Romaine for their involvement in efforts to accelerate the Navy’s investigation and cleanup at EPCAL. He also cited an additional $3 million LaLota is seeking for Navy PFAS remediation.
“I want to thank him for providing his staff on a monthly basis with calls with the DEC, which has been instrumental in accelerating the cleanup of EPCAL,” Kern said. “In the last year, and I’ve been working on this diligently every day with our water superintendent and with the folks from the County Health Department, we have made strides that haven’t been made in 30 years.”
The money is included in a proposed fiscal year 2027 defense appropriations measure and has not yet been enacted, LaLota said.
He said he hoped good news on the $3 million would be forthcoming. The proposal was added after Navy representatives told officials during a meeting that an additional $3 million could help accelerate PFAS remediation at the former Grumman property, he said.
“The Navy spent about $80 million so far remediating about 97% of the property, and a lot of folks are anxious, and rightfully so, about what more can be done to remediate the issue that exists,” LaLota said.
When he asked the Navy what Congress could do, LaLota said, the Navy requested an additional $3 million in the defense budget, “which could be earmarked subsequently for PFAS remediation.”
The $3 million is contained in a bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee, of which LaLota is a member. The fiscal year 2027 federal budget has not yet received final congressional approval.
Council Member Ken Rothwell said town officials began holding water forums more than five years ago to coordinate local, county, state and federal efforts.
“Since 2020, the Town Board and its past supervisors as well have been unified in our commitment and advocacy for clean, safe drinking water for all of our residents,” Rothwell said.
He said residents have faced risks from PFAS, 1,4-dioxane and other contaminants and credited LaLota with obtaining federal assistance for several Riverhead Water District projects.
“These funds will greatly assist in closing the funding gap needed to finance the project to deliver clean, safe water to approximately 75 additional homes,” Rothwell said, referring collectively to the planned extensions.
Council Members Denise Merrifield and Joann Waski also attended Thursday’s presentation.
Editor’s note: This article has been amended to correct an error in date of the press conference stated in the caption.
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