Water quality

The county health department will share new data about the Calverton plume that's polluting wells, groundwater, ponds, lakes and the Peonic River at a community meeting April 28.

The grant allows Southampton Town to proceed with wastewater treatment system that is key to Riverside revitalization plan now taking shape.

New York State is increasing funding for grants that Suffolk County residents can use to replace outdated septic and cesspool systems with newer, advanced systems that reduce the contaminants wastewater releases into the environment.

The Riverhead Town Board is interested in partnering with the Riverhead Rotary Club and the Half Shells for Habitat program to create an oyster shell recovery program. The goal would be to collect discarded shells from local restaurants and put them into local waters to benefit the marine ecosystem and increase water quality.

"I firmly believe any wrongdoing [by the Grumman Corporation in Calverton], be it intentional, reckless, or negligent, must be addressed transparently and straightforwardly."

Representatives of environmental groups, community groups and local government officials across eastern Suffolk County turned out for a two-hour, wide-ranging conversation with state legislators Thursday morning in Riverhead. 

Republican legislators voiced numerous reasons for their opposition to moving forward with the news 1/% sales tax, with the strongest objections centered on what they called an unfair allocation of the new tax revenues to sewers versus advanced septic systems.

Tuesday, July 25 is the County Legislature's last chance to vote to opt the water quality restoration fund on the November ballot. Group for the East End President Bob DeLuca urges residents to demand legislator's "let the voters decide."

Clean water should not be a partisan issue, and leaders should not pit communities against one another. Instead of putting politics over people, let the public decide for themselves. 

Save the Sound analyzes water quality data provided by county health departments to the US EPA for L.I. Sound beaches across the island, NYC and Connecticut. Here's what their just-released 2023 report says about local beaches.