Suffolk County Water Authority begins impact review of pipeline through Riverhead

The Suffolk County Water Authority has begun environmental review of its proposed North Fork Pipeline, which will connect the North Fork to the water authority’s distribution network from a connection point in Flanders.

The water authority, as lead agency, determined that the project is likely to have adverse environmental impacts and should be the subject of an environmental impact statement to identify those impacts and develop ways in which to mitigate them.

SCWA first announced plans for the transmission line at a “ceremonial groundbreaking”  in March 2023 on Peconic Bay Boulevard and Laurel Lane. The project, as it was then proposed, would cost as estimated $35 million to complete.

MORE COVERAGE: Water authority’s NoFo pipeline is not actually under construction; last week’s ‘groundbreaking’ was ‘ceremonial kickoff,’ SCWA spokesman says

The authority has since changed the planned route for the transmission line. The new plan has the transmission line running north on Cross River Drive (CR 105) to Northville Turnpike and then east on Sound Avenue, rather than traversing Peconic Bay Boulevard to the Southold Town line.

The first phase of the project calls for the installation of approximately 43,052± linear feet (8.15± miles) of 24-inch water main and the construction of a booster station on a  1.5-acre parcel owned by  SCWA on Pier Avenue just north of Sound Avenue.

A second phase of the project is long-range planning for  an additional 3.79 miles of water main from East Marion to Orient.  The water main extension in that area would consist of a combination of 6, 8 and 12-inch diameter mains 

The North Fork transmission line is intended to provide “a long-term solution to the limited supply of potable drinking water in SCWA’s Southold system by supplementing the existing SCWA system with water sources that will have minimal impacts on the salt water interface and replenish and rehabilitate the local aquifer system with the water conveyed to the area,” according to the draft scoping statement issued by the water authority on May 6. The 24-inch transmission main will convey water at a rate of up to 6,000 gallons per minute between Riverside/Flanders and Jamesport/Laurel.

The proposed project will require directional drilling through the river bed of the Peconic River at a depth of about 30 feet, for a distance of 1,633± feet. 

It will require wetlands permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, as well as a stormwater discharge permit and approval of a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan from the NYSDEC. It will also require permits from the New York State Department of Transportation, and road opening permits from the Suffolk County Department of Public Works, the Town of Riverhead and the Town of Southold, among other permits.

Suffolk County Water Authority has scheduled three public scoping sessions: June 4 at 6 p.m. at the Suffolk County Water Authority office in Westhampton Beach; June 10 at 6 p.m. at Riverhead Free Library in Riverhead; and June 12 at 6 p.m. at Floyd Memorial Public Library in Greenport.

The public is invited to attend the sessions to give comment on the scoping statement, a document that sets the parameters for the environmental impact statement required assess the impacts of the project.

More information and a copy of the project’s environmental assessment form and draft scoping statement are available on the North Fork Pipeline page on the SCWA website.