Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced state and federal funding in the amount of $388 million to expand the sanitary sewers in Suffolk County to 8,075 parcels of land. The current on-site septic systems in Suffolk County of Long Island ground water has been in-fluxed with contaminants causing wastewater management infrastructure due to SuperStorm Sandy.
According to Governor Cuomo, "Long Islanders have seen first-hand and up-close the damage that Mother nature can inflict on a community and its ability to provide vital service for its residents." "This funding allows Suffolk County to improve and expand its sewer system in a way that not only reduces threats to water quality and contamination, but also strengthen Long Island's coast to better withstand future storms."
More than 870 percent of Suffolk County's 1.5 million residents lack connections to advanced wastewater treatment infrastructure, so instead of relying on on-site septic systems the construction of adequate water supply and sewage disposal must be regulated. During Superstorm Sandy, many of the systems ere flooded by rising groundwater, which created public health hazards like water contamination and nitrogen pollution due to failing septic systems and cesspools. In order to reduce the vulnerability from another storm surge, which caused erosion, an environmental review was made to access the point of failure. The New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation's State Revolving Fund and the United State Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery Program funded $24.2 million dollars to start a phase I project. Both entities, along with the federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, will fund the $364.3 million construction phase as well.
Forge River is a watershed that will collect new water and conveyance systems, linking 1,215 residential , 2015 commercial and 74 non-vacant parcels to a new wastewater treatment plant to be built on the site of Calabro Airport. Service laterals connecting 2, 232 residential parcels in the southwest Suffolk County's Sewer District #3 will also be installed to existing systems terminating at the Bergen Point Wastewater Treatment Plan. Because these selected locations are critical areas with dense populations, the existing depth to groundwater and travel time will yield the maximum benefits of coastal protections in receiving body of water.
Since 2013, the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery coordinated Statewide recovery efforts due to Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. Through the NY Rising Programs, the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery invested $4.4 billion that was made available through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery Program to better prepare New York for future extreme weather events. Today, since the Presidential Disaster Declaration, as in the case of Superstorm Sandy, the federal government provides Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds for states to administer grant programs that support local hazard mitigation planning and long-term mitigation measures.
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