Forge River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Mastic opens
The Forge River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Mastic opened on Monday. Credit: Newsday / Alejandra Villa Loarca
Suffolk County officials Monday opened the Forge River Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is expected to connect about 1,900 homes to sewer service on Suffolk County’s South Shore.
The $228 million plant in Mastic is in addition to $1 billion in sewer infrastructure projects planned in Suffolk in the next three years, County Executive Edward P. Romaine said at the plant Monday.
"We expect to spend at least $1 billion in extending sewers," Romaine said. "They're going to be the first priority is those areas that are most densely populated and that are still on septic tanks and cesspools."
The Forge River Watershed district runs from William Floyd Parkway to Forge River south of Sunrise Highway. About 10 homes have been connected to the new plant so far, Romaine said.
Construction of the plant was primarily funded with federal disaster grants awarded after Superstorm Sandy. It is expected to serve about half the homes in Mastic, closest to Forge River that have been connected to sewer lines, Romaine said. The county connected homes to the sewer using taxes from sewer district revenue, officials said.
Romaine said the sewage treatment plant will help improve water quality in the Forge River by removing cesspool waste and waste from former duck farms in the region.
"The Forge River is one of the most impacted rivers for a variety of different reasons," Romaine said. "Putting in this sewage treatment plant is going to greatly increase water quality, and we are going to be able to treat waste."
Amanda Lefton, acting director of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said the treatment plant would improve Long Island’s water quality and environment by removing waste chemicals like nitrogen.
"Having grown up here, I know just how important water is to our communities. It's in so many ways, our lifeblood," Lefton said. "It's in our waterways, it's our recreational opportunities ... and our clean drinking water. Really protecting our water is such an important part of our life here on Long Island."
Lefton pointed to other projects targeting nitrogen pollution including the DEC’s Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan and the Bay Park Conveyance project in Nassau, which will transfer treated sewage from Bay Park to be pumped into the ocean in Wantagh, rather than into Reynolds Channel.
The DEC is partnering with Suffolk officials to give grants to homeowners to repair or replace aging septic tanks and cesspools. Lefton said the state is using $1.2 billion from the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act to complete other sewer and clean water projects.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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