The Riverhead sewage treatment plant pictured on Dec. 8. (Credit: Tim Gannon)
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Thursday announced it has developed a new system to alert the public of sewage pollution discharging from treatment plants into nearby water.
It comes just weeks after reports of partially treated sewage discharging into the Peconic River from Riverhead Town’s sewage treatment plant — which happened on four occasions in 2014 due to mechanical failure.
Daniella Ferina, Riverhead Foundation staff biologist, administering warmed IV fluids Wednesday morning to a sea turtle. (Credit: Riverhead Foundation)
After rescuing two endangered sea turtles in just 24 hours, biologists with the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation are asking residents to keep an eye out for cold-stunned sea turtles following Tuesday’s nor’easter.
High tides along the north shore after 3 p.m today could leave turtles stranded on north facing beaches, exposing them to frigid water and air temperatures, according to the organization.
When the Riverhead Sewer District finishes its plant upgrade its facility off Riverside Drive, the water being currently treated at the plant would then be pumped through a new, high-tech filtration system before reaching Peconic Bay. (Credit: Paul Squire, file)
Mechanical failure led to Riverhead Town’s sewage treatment plant dumping improperly treated sewage into the Peconic River on three different occasions last month, according to the Suffolk County health department.
Michael Reichel, the town’s sewer plant superintendent, confirmed Friday the plant exceeded the amount of fecal coliform bacteria it is permitted to discharge into the Peconic on Nov. 26, as well as two other days in November, Nov. 5 and Nov. 19.
The town has not been issued a violation “yet”, Mr. Reichel said.
Another incident occurred in August.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a Notice of Violation to the town Thursday, saying the town had until Jan. 5 to respond with a corrective action plan, said Aphrodite Montalvo, a DEC spokeswoman.
The town could be fined up to $37,500 for each incident, Mr. Reichel said.
The area that will be restored at Indian Island County Park. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)
Suffolk County is moving forward with a million-dollar plan to restore seven acres of land at Indian Island County Park in Riverhead that once served as a dumping ground for the county’s dredging projects. The measure is expected to improve the surrounding ecosystem by re-opening proper tidal flow to the area. (more…)
The sun rising over Orient Harbor in Orient. (Credit: Tim Kelly file photo)
Three clean water initiatives with North Fork ties have been granted some significant federal funding as part of a larger effort to protect the Long Island Sound, federal officials announced Wednesday.
Project proposals from the environmental advocacy groups Peconic Green Growth, the Azuero Earth Project and the American Farmland Trust were among 22 awarded to receive a total of $1.3 million. (more…)
County Legislator Jay Schneiderman is calling for a study of Millstone power plant. (Courtesy photo)
Each day, some two billion gallons of water are pumped from Long Island Sound into the Millstone Power Station in Waterford, Conn. — that state’s only nuclear power plant — and used to help cool systems and support the station’s two operating reactors. After it heats up, about 90 percent of that water is discharged back into the Sound at about 20 degrees warmer than when it was taken in, said Ken Holt, a spokesman for Millstone.
Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk) wants to better understand what, if any, impact that heated water is having on the ecology of the Sound and has reached out to researchers at Stony Brook University’s School of Atmospheric Science, hoping they can determine whether Millstone might be “overheating” the Sound’s waters. (more…)
More ice than water could be seen on one Main Road fountain Wednesday. (Credit: Carrie Miller)
The weather is taking North Forkers on a wild ride, as this week saw two consecutive days that each broke recorded weather records.
But there’s hope for some warmer weather to come Monday, weather officials said.
Tuesday brought with it a record low of 24 degrees, surpassing a record of 25 set in 1997, according to daily temperature data taken at the agency’s weather station in Islip, according to the National Weather Service.
The image on the kiosk at Hallockville Museum Farm in Northville. Looking at it you can see through the window and line the nuclear power plants with the existing wooded horizon. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)
Tom Twomey, the founder and senior partner of the largest law firm on the East End, as well as an influential figure in politics, died suddenly at his home in East Hampton on Sunday. He was 68.
Mr. Twomey led the fight against the Long Island Lighting Company’s proposal to build four nuclear power plants on the East End, including in Northville, in 1977 while he worked for the Long Island Farm Bureau..
In 2011, he wrote this column for The Riverhead News-Review detailing that fight against the nuclear power plant:
If it weren’t for the tenacity and courage of a small band of North Fork farmers, some of whom have been working the land here for generations, all of us — on both forks — would be living in the shadow of nuclear plants with the same design as the destroyed plants that are devastating Japan. (more…)
