Riverhead to use county data to seek grants to improve water quality in Manorville, Calverton
In December 2020, Suffolk County Health Department officials found traces of perfluorinated compounds in nearly 15% of private drinking wells tested near the former Grumman naval weapons plant in Calverton. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Data from the Suffolk County Health Department will help Riverhead officials apply for state and federal grants to address water-quality issues affecting dozens of homes in Calverton and Manorville, said the town’s water district superintendent.
Frank Mancini said the health department gave the water district "a very good summary" of data collected from the wells. In December 2020, health department officials found traces of perfluorinated compounds — which have been linked to reproductive, endocrine and other health impacts — in nearly 15% of private drinking wells tested near the former Grumman naval weapons plant in Calverton.
"We’re going to use that to strengthen our grant proposals to try and obtain funding for water main extensions to cover these areas impacted," Mancini said Friday.
Receipt of the data was a topic of discussion last week at a forum at Town Hall on water-quality issues.
Mancini told residents at the Feb. 16 meeting that he had asked the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for data from all private and irrigation wells taken as part of the investigation and testing from wells within the affected areas. In November, the DEC said it could not grant Mancini’s request due to "personal privacy reasons," according to a letter from the agency that was provided to Newsday.
Councilman Ken Rothwell told Newsday on Friday that while the town sought those numbers, all residents with well test data were being encouraged to send those results to him or the water district. The data can still be used in the grant applications, according to Rothwell.
"It proves the need for the grants, it strengthens them and it shows if there’s any immediate risk of contaminated water, hopefully it will expedite the decision on the grant process," Rothwell said.
While the health department’s data will likely be enough for the town to proceed with stronger grant proposals for public water connections, Mancini said he is still encouraging residents in the affected areas to send in any data taken at their wells to his department so the town can have as much updated information as possible in its grant proposals.
