Riverhead Water District

Sen. Chuck Schumer is urging the U.S. Navy to immediately develop a plan to connect homes near the former Grumman site in Calverton to public water and to expand its area of investigation for groundwater contamination near the site.

he town board today tabled the resolution to hire the San Fransisco environmental law firm after a lawyer from a Melville law firm complained that the town didn’t solicit proposals from multiple firms.

he town board is expected to vote Tuesday to retain the firm Sher Edlin LLP of San Francisco, California to sue the manufacturers of the chemical contaminants that have been found in one of the Riverhead Water District’s wells.

Citing questions surrounding the capacity of the Riverhead Water District to supply customers during peak demand periods, the planning board chairman said new development applications require increased scrutiny.

With standards now in place in New York for "emerging contaminants," the county health department will have to test homeowners' wells for them and homes where wells exceed the new standards will be eligible for special filtration systems.

Since at least the late 1990s, the Riverhead Water District has built its current distribution system without permits required by state law, installing miles of water mains to serve hundreds of residential and commercial developments across the Town of Riverhead.

Riverhead Water District customers will be paying more for water under a new rate structure adopted today by the Riverhead Town Board. At the same time, the water district has imposed use restrictions on its customers.

Riverhead Water District customers will be required to adhere to an odd/even day schedule for irrigation and No watering will be permitted between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. or between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. every day.

Among the deferred capital projects that urgently need attention is rehabilitation of the elevated water storage tank just north of Route 58, which the water district's engineers said needed the work in 2010. Its condition has reached a 'critical point,' the water district superintendent said last week. Photo: Peter Blasl

After years of request for public water by Manorville residents, the town board last night took the first step to provide the service, after learning the SCWA is now exploring bringing water to the area.