Riverhead to hold meetings to tackle water-related issues

Starting next month, Riverhead will be holding forum-style meetings with town officials and residents to tackle pressing water-related issues the town faces.

The two primary issues the meetings will seek to address quickly are the water quality issues more than 60 Calverton and Manorville households face — due to perfluorinated compounds which Suffolk County Health Department officials last year found in nearly 15% of private drinking wells tested near the former Grumman naval weapons plant — and water capacity issues with the town’s water district.

Riverhead Councilman Kenneth Rothwell, the Riverhead town board member tasked with creating the meetings, told Newsday in an interview on Friday the town had originally sought to create a committee to deal with both issues. However, the town decided instead to hold meetings with residents after some Manorville and Calverton residents at a town board meeting last month said committees lacked transparency for them to be aware of what the town is doing to resolve the situation.

"Residents are asking ‘What’s happening? What’s going on? We need to know. What is the town doing?’ " Rothwell said.

The forum will allow residents to hear from water district officials on what wells were tested and what is happening, communications the town’s attorneys have had with the U.S. Navy, and grants the town is seeking related to the matter, among other things.

Both Rothwell and Town Councilwoman Catherine Kent say they want the water issues affecting those households resolved first before they focus on other matters.

However, the next situation the meetings will focus on involve looking at how to strengthen the Riverhead Water District’s capacity to meet the water needs of future development projects. Planning Board officials in July agreed to base approvals of new development on whether the water district can provide those developments with sufficient water amounts.

In July 2020, a letter from the state Department of Environmental Conservation notified the town that more than 30 water main extensions, going back to 2005, had been installed and were operating without required state-issued permits. The letter stated that the permits were not granted because the district’s water capacity did not meet industry standards.

Kent said she wants to have a joint meeting with planning, town and water district officials to discuss the water district’s infrastructure and capacity, as it could affect how future development proceeds in Riverhead.

Frank Mancini, the water district’s superintendent, told Newsday on Thursday while the district faces challenges during hot, dry events in the summer, the district now requires engineering reports for new projects to give the water district an idea of how much water such developments need and will cost developers.

"If you come into Riverhead and you need this massive amount of water, you’re going to pay to develop that supply in storage, because it’s not appropriate to have the ratepayer develop that massive amount for you," Mancini said. "Any project will require a map and plan that defines what you need and then more importantly, gives us an opportunity to communicate to the owner what we need to support that."