State funding approved for water improvement projects on Long Island, elsewhere
Funding was approved for projects including this Suffolk County Water Authority site on Kings Park Road in Commack. Credit: Newsday/James Carbone
Nearly $16.4 million was made available for multiple infrastructure projects on Long Island aimed at removing potentially harmful chemicals from the area's water supply, according to an announcement from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office and local water officials.
The money is part of a $269 million tranche of funding for water projects statewide, and it includes state and federal grants as well as “low-cost financing,” according to Hochul’s announcement.
Several Long Island jurisdictions were awarded the funds in 2023 or 2024, but on Friday the state’s Environmental Facilities Corporation's board of directors approved the funding, which Hochul’s news release said “allows communities to enter into an agreement and access these dollars.”
The governor’s news release cited funding for four Long Island jurisdictions:
- $5 million state grant for Hempstead
- $998,200 federal grant for Smithtown
- $5.5 million worth of state grants for the Suffolk County Water Authority
- $4.9 million in federal funds for the Locust Valley Water District
The latter two jurisdictions' grants will help fund filters that remove PFAS from the water. PFAS are chemicals that can build up in the body and cause health issues such as increased risk of cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
“[It’s called] a granular activated carbon vessel; they’re giant vessels about 4 feet in diameter,” said acting Locust Valley Water District Superintendent Andrew Petti, whose district’s grant is helping to fund the installation of two such vessels.
“When the water goes through it, they have microscopic pores on them that the contaminants get attached to and removes it from the water,” he explained. “It’s basically just a giant Brita filter.”
Petti said his district’s level of PFAS has historically been below what’s considered harmful, but he said the project is about “being proactive in getting the treatment in before it’s a major problem for us.”
Timothy Kilcommons, the director of research and development at the SCWA, said his district has already installed carbon filter systems, and the grant funding will be used to reimburse the district, as well as install another advanced system to make the $90,000 filters last longer.
The SCWA currently uses the carbon filters to treat a chemical solvent called 1,4-dioxane, which the National Institutes of Health calls a “probable human carcinogen.” The process produces clean water, according to Kilcommons, but is "extremely inefficient.”
“If I have a run-of-the-mill contaminant in the carbon system, maybe I can run a year before I have to change out my carbon,” he said. “If I have to remove 1,4-dioxane with just carbon, it might only last for several weeks.”
The SCWA’s grant will help fund systems at three sites that use hydrogen peroxide and UV light to break down the 1,4-dioxane. Kilcommons said the district is also constructing buildings around the systems to allow them to run year-round.
He called it "the permanent treatment solution."
Hempstead’s $5 million state grant, which the town was awarded in 2023, is going toward a similar 1,4-dioxane treatment system and carbon filters. It will also help fund what Hochul’s announcement called a green sand filter system.
Smithtown’s nearly $1 million grant will help “extend the boundaries of the Smithtown Water District service area to provide water to residences with private wells contaminated with PFAS,” according to Hochul’s press release.
Neither Smithtown nor Hempstead spokespeople responded to Newsday’s request for comment on the projects or the governor’s announcement.
Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
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