Free PFAS testing available for East End private well users
East End residents using private wells can avoid spending hundreds of dollars on testing for PFAS, the cancer-linked “forever chemicals,” by applying for a new $1.5 million state pilot program.
The program, announced Thursday by Suffolk County officials, also offers qualifying applicants financial assistance to install treatment systems or connect to public water. Residents served by public water are not eligible.
Private PFAS testing typically costs between $300 and $600, according to the state Health Department.
The rollout comes as the Suffolk County Water Authority seeks state and federal grants to extend public water to about 60 properties near Reeve Avenue in Mattituck, where county testing found widespread PFAS contamination in private wells.
The proposed $2.4 million water-main extension would install 3,850 feet of new water main. Without grant funding, officials said, connection costs could exceed $40,000 per property.
The effort stems from 2024 county testing that detected PFOA and PFOS in 31 of 39 private wells sampled near Reeve Avenue. Twenty-two wells exceeded New York’s drinking water standard of 10 parts per trillion, including one that measured more than 1,000 parts per trillion. The contamination was first brought to public attention last year as county investigators expanded testing and searched for the source of the pollution.
PFAS contamination has also driven years of investigation and cleanup planning around the former Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant in Calverton, where groundwater contamination associated with the former Grumman site remains under federal remediation. Recent federal funding is helping extend public water to homes affected by that plume, a separate project from the Mattituck proposal.
SCWA has applied for funding through New York’s Water Infrastructure Improvement program and is seeking federal assistance through the offices of U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota. If both applications are approved, officials said, affected homeowners could avoid connection costs entirely.
County Executive Ed Romaine encouraged residents who rely on private wells to participate.
“Clean water is essential to our quality of life here in Suffolk County and it is imperative that we utilize the resources available to us to better our communities,” Romaine said in a statement. “Our residents deserve to know this information, and I encourage homeowners to participate in this free program if eligible.”
Applications and eligibility information are available through the state Department of Health’s Private Well PFAS Testing and Mitigation Rebate Pilot Program.
