Clean drinking water is top concern for Long Island voters, Newsday/Siena poll finds

Flooded streets, polluted drinking water and battering storms: Long Island is grappling with a range of environmental challenges, some of which could worsen in the years to come.

A Newsday/Siena poll conducted earlier this month asked respondents to choose which of five environment problems poses the greatest risk to Long Island over the next 10 years. The highest percentage of polltakers, 37%, said contamination of drinking water was their top worry.

“Clean water is a compelling necessity for all of us, and therefore it is not surprising it is identified as a primary concern for the public,” Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, told Newsday.

The next most common response was coastal flooding, which was cited by 22% of respondents, followed by severe storms, pollution of bays and tick infestations.

One of those surveyed, Lia Malone, 29, of North Babylon, said she recalls choosing flooding as the greatest risk. She lives in an area where the water table is high and, in the past few years, her neighborhood's storm drains have become overwhelmed during heavy rains. In one recent downpour, “my entire block was flooded. And the block behind me was flooded.”

Malone said the problem of coastal flooding “goes hand in hand” with the broader problem of global warming. “I wonder if climate change is raising the water tables.”

Rachelle Delice, 59, from Valley Stream, said she chose drinking water contamination when answering the pollster’s questions. But when speaking afterward with Newsday, she said she believes the biggest environmental risk is climate change, and lately she’s become concerned about data centers and their heavy consumption of energy and water. 

“I don’t think people are paying enough attention to those issues,” she said.

Marie Albert, 37, from Islip, said she chose tick infestation. She said when her children were younger, the ticks "weren’t so bad as they are now.” When her oldest, now 15, was a toddler, they'd go on a nature walks and find at most one tick on them. Now she and her children often find at least 10 ticks on each of them. “And these ticks are carrying different viruses with them too.”

Advocates for the environment who viewed the poll data said the choice of drinking water— a basic need and also a particular vulnerability on Long Island, where every faucet is fed by the aquifer system — seemed logical.

Esposito also noted drinking water was the top concern for Republicans (41% of whom chose that option), Democrats (32%) and nonaffiliated independent voters (39%). “The results illustrate that both parties can finally agree on something, which is the need for clean drinking water.”

She said the results should also provide a nudge to Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a bill, already passed in the State Legislature, that would strengthen state standards for toxic PFAS chemicals in drinking water.

“Clearly, there is strong public support for measures that increase public health protection and advance safe drinking water goals,” Esposito said.

Robert Hayes, senior director of clean water at Environmental Advocates NY, likewise mentioned the bill, which aims to codify the federal PFAS limits that the Trump administration has vowed to weaken.

“By insulating our state from the federal government's reckless rollbacks, the governor can ensure Long Islanders don't face prolonged toxic exposure when they turn on the tap," Hayes said. "Long Islanders understand that clean drinking water isn't a luxury, it's a necessity.”