Riverhead dodges sewage spill into Peconic, inspectors find
It’s not the Peew-conic River after all.
State and county officials said Tuesday they found no evidence that raw sewage reached the Peconic River following a sewer pipe break during construction at a downtown Riverhead apartment complex last week.
The finding contradicts initial reports that up to 10,000 gallons of untreated wastewater had spilled into the waterway on Jan. 14, prompting a county health advisory that warned residents to stay out of the river.
After multiple rounds of water samples, bacterial levels at all locations tested in the tidal portion of the Peconic River “were well below New York State standards for bathing beaches,” according to Gioia Knutson, a spokeswoman for the county Department of Health Services.
The advisory will be lifted, she said.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation said the sewage was discharged “to the ground in the vicinity of the pipe break” when a lateral pulled away from a sewer main during construction at the Heatherwood apartment complex — a 165-unit development at 203-213 East Main St., between Riverview Lofts and the East End Arts campus.
“DEC staff did not observe any evidence of sewage impact to the Peconic River nor any nuisance odors during inspections of the area last week,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
The sewer main that broke is about 100 years old and made of cast iron, according to Riverhead Sewer District Superintendent Tim Allen. The pipe carries around 400,000 gallons of wastewater daily from the county center, the jail and two pump stations.
On Monday, Jan. 19, bulldozers from the town were back working at the site where the pipe broke, Mr. Allen said.
The spill occurred around 10 a.m. on Jan. 14 near the back of the Heatherwood construction site, which abuts the river. The discharge lasted approximately 45 minutes until workers activated a bypass pump, according to the DEC.
At a Town Board work session the following day, Mr. Allen said contractors working on encasing a sewer main on the property noticed the wastewater leaking into the ground.
“There was no cleanup because it saturated into the ground,” Mr. Allen said at last week’s work session. “It was still nice, clean groundwater going out into the river, no smell, no odor.”
Mr. Allen said the wastewater that leaked into the ground was filtered by sandy soil, similar to how a cesspool works.
The initial confusion stemmed from a DEC alert posted to the state’s sewage pollution reporting website, which said the untreated wastewater “flowed into the Peconic River for about 45 minutes.”
The state agency said the town has agreed to set up bypass pumps prior to any sewer replacement work for the remainder of the infrastructure project “to ensure no future accidental releases.”
When the sewer connection work is complete, both the old cast iron main and the new pipe serving the apartment building will be encased in concrete, Mr. Allen told Riverhead News-Review on Tuesday. Heatherwood is paying the town for the work.
“DEC will continue to monitor conditions to ensure protection of public health and the environment,” the agency said.
The head of Peconic Baykeeper, a local environmental advocacy group, was relieved that no sewage spilled into the river but cautioned that the century-old pipe break highlights broader infrastructure concerns.
“This event highlights the importance of evaluating and modernizing wastewater infrastructure throughout Long Island’s watersheds,” Pete Topping said.
