Navy offers to pay Riverhead $500G for water line

The U.S. Navy has offered to pay Riverhead Town $500,000 to bring public water to the Peconic River Sportsman’s Club as a means to protect the club's members from a pollution plume from the former Grumman facility at Calverton.

The plume of industrial solvents and other chemicals used when F-14 fighter jets were assembled at Calverton was detected several years ago. It is a half-mile wide and 35 to 60 feet deep.

The Navy owned the land, which was leased to Grumman, and pledged to deal with contamination before the property was declared surplus and sold to Riverhead for $1.

The $500,000 will cover the expense of running a 12-inch water line for 5,000 feet to the club, which is on River Road in Manorville, just south of the former Grumman property.

A line that large is not needed to serve the club members, but it will also provide for future expansion and allow the town to install five water hydrants to protect an area which now has only private wells.

The town board held a public hearing Tuesday on a proposal to build the new water line and kept the record open for written comment. It could vote to approve the extension as soon as next month.