Town seeks funding to repair Wading River Duck Pond

Over the past 30 years, the Wading River Duck Pond has gone from a sanctuary that flourished with ecological life to one that has languished due to unchecked pollutants, officials say.

“It’s slowly diminished,” said Riverhead Councilman Ken Rothwell, who lives in Wading River.

The main culprit: motor oil that has run off from roads.

“There’s visible oil that runs off and is appearing in the ponds,” Mr. Rothwell said, adding that the water “comes down like a raging river” during heavy storms.

“It doesn’t look so good,” said Sid Bail, longtime president of the Wading River Civic Association, who watched the recent town meeting on the subject from home. “But up close and in person, it looks much worse.” For many years, there have been efforts to restore the pond, but none of them worked, mainly because of the cost of the job, officials said. Riverhead Town officials passed a resolution on Oct. 4, 2023, authorizing its Community Development Agency to seek federal grant money for work on the Duck Pond.

The town plans to collaborate with neighboring Brookhaven Town to get funding for dredging and replacement or repair of the bulkheads at Duck Pond, which straddles both towns. In 2005, Riverhead and Brookhaven planned to cooperate on repairs there, but Riverhead didn’t have enough funding, according to Riverhead town engineer Drew Dillingham, so the work was never done. The majority of the pond lies within Brookhaven Town, but most of the runoff and bulkheading issues are on its Riverhead side.

Mr. Rothwell said there no estimates for the necessary work, but he believes it will cost over $1 million.

Officials noted that Riverhead has been very successful in securing federal grants in recent years.

“I’m optimistic,” Mr. Bail said. “It’s been 30 years, but [the pond is] a great asset for the town.”