Infrastructure Improvements Part of County’s Reclaim Our Water Initiative to Address Region’s Nitrogen Pollution Crisis
(Long Island, NY) County Executive Steve Bellone, Patchogue Village Mayor Paul Pontieri and Legislator Robert Calarco were joined by representatives from H2M and homeowners to announce the commencement of the construction of a new low pressure sewer main to connect residential homes to sewers in the Village of Patchogue.
“This wastewater infrastructure investment coincides with our Reclaim Our Water initiative, the region’s single largest water quality based initiative in 40 years,” stated County Executive Steve Bellone. “Reclaim Our Wateraddresses the region’s nitrogen pollution crisis that has eliminated the region’s once-renowned shell fishing injury,affected water dependent economies and tourism, diminished coastal wetlands, and threatened the region’s surface, ground and drinking water.”
Peter Scully, Deputy County Executive, Tom Ferb, Village of Patchogue Trustee, Bill Hilton, Village of Patchogue Trustee County Executive Steve Bellone, Mayor Paul Pontieri, Legislator Robert Calarco, Lori Devlin, Village of Patchogue Trustee, Sal Felice, Village of Patchogue Trustee, Joe Keyes, Village of Patchogue Trustee, Frank Russo, Senior Vice President & Director of Wastewater Engineering, H2M Architects and Engineers. Photo Credit: Suffolk County.
“This is a resident driven project,” said Mayor Paul Pontieri. “It is because of County Executive Bellone’s leadership and commitment to the residents of Suffolk County and the economic prosperity of our region that projects like this can happen.
The project centers around the construction of a new low pressure sewer main to connect 55 residential properties fronting River Avenue south of Weeks Street, and the properties on Sunset Lane, Price Street, and Mapes Avenue. The sewer connection will consist of connecting the homes to twin, 3-inch diameter low pressure sewer system (LPSS) pipes previously installed down the entire length of River avenue to Crescent Street.
“Communities, in particular shoreline communities, should undertake projects to abandon on-site septic systems in favor of connecting to sewer treatment systems whenever possible,” said County Executive Bellone. “In this case, the Village of Patchogue has made significant investments in upgrading their treatment facilities and installing new sewer infrastructure. Sewers are expensive, and our water quality issues in this County are indeed a crisis. The path to reclaiming our water is to target individual projects that will result in long-term reduction of nitrogen throughout our region.
“For too long residents on the south end of Patchogue Village have endured flooding and unsafe sanitary conditions,” stated Majority Leader Rob Calarco. “This project not only ensures improved conditions for our residents, but is a step towards removing harmful nitrogen from our bays and inland waterbodies. I am proud to support this project and thank County Executive Steve Bellone for his continuing support in Patchogue.”
In 2013, Suffolk County offered a competitive grant program where municipalities were given the opportunity to apply for sewer infrastructure funds to assist with viable sewer projects. The Village of Patchogue was awarded $577,500 for this project which will cover the costs for the homeowners to connect to the sewer system. In addition to County funding, the Village of Patchogue received a $1 million NYS Dormitory Authority grant and contributed $1.1 million from their sewer fund surplus to design and construct the sewer infrastructure project.
The Village of Patchogue has funded and completed various sewer improvement projects over the past 8 years including, but not limited to: $10.9 million waste-water treatment facility upgrade in 2011 and $2.8 million Main Street Pump Station project in 2012.
The fifty five residential homes will be responsible for the costs associated with closing their current septic systems in compliance with all applicable standards and annual sewer district fees.
