Riverhead Water District

Riverhead Water District Superintendent Frank Mancini has proposed that the district change its billing system to a tiered rate structure that would have customers who use more water pay a higher rate, with the aim of encouraging conservation. Rates will increase across the board to cover the districts increasing costs.

Riverhead officials hope the July 8 meeting made headway against the Navy's resistance to bearing financial responsibility for public water to homes near the former Grumman plant, but a Navy spokesperson reached after the meeting was noncommittal.

Riverhead Town and the Suffolk County Water Authority are negotiating the terms of the intermunicipal agreement for their planned joint effort to bring public water to an area of Manorville near the former Northrop Grumman manufacturing plant in Calverton where private drinking water wells are contaminated by toxic chemicals.

The next Riverhead Town water forum will take place on June 22 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall and will cover updates on projects surrounding drinking water-related issues.

Under a preliminary agreement discussed "in broad strokes" yesterday, the water authority would install about 3,000 feet of water main and serve 64 homes in the Town of Riverhead from the SCWA system.

The Suffolk County Water Authority has offered to assist Riverhead Town in the construction of a water main extension to the Manorville area south of the former Grumman facility, where residential private wells are impacted by or threatened by chemical contamination.

Riverhead Town has come up short on federal and state funding requests to cover two water district extensions to serve homes in Manorville and Calverton in the vicinity of the former Northrop Grumman facility in Calverton.

The Riverhead Water District’s annual flushing of water mains will start on the evening of April 17 and run until May 7. 

Federal representatives have secured a $3.5 million grant for Riverhead Town to help offset the cost of bringing public water to more than 60 homes in Manorville. 

Town officials are asking residents to advocate for developer contributions to the cost of water infrastructure needed to grow and maintain the Riverhead Water District's capacity.