Water main extension to serve new transitional housing for Shinnecock Nation

A water main extension will bring potable water to new transitional housing built for homeless members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation.

Suffolk County Water Authority contractors last month connected 1,250 feet of new water main along Deer Trail Road, bridging a gap in existing water main infrastructure between Old Soldiers Road and W. Gate Road on the Southampton reservation.

The $173,159.27 project was paid for by the Shinnecock Indian Nation, the water authority said.

"This project will not only supply new homes but will end up improving water quality throughout the Shinnecock Reservation by connecting their network of underground water main together," water authority chairman Patrick Halpin said in a news release.

The tribe in October began a $1.2 million project to build five new one-bedroom housing units and a service center. The project, which Bryan Polite, chairman of the Shinnecock Nation’s tribal trustees said is nearing completion, will be used by Shinnecock members to transition out of homelessness as the tribe develops economic opportunities for its people.

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.