SCWA Ups Water Pressure For Noyac Homes

Noyac residents of the area south of Noyac Road who experienced low water pressure in the homes during the hottest months these past few years will notice a change, if they haven’t already. The Suffolk County Water Authority has made some improvements to service in the area to offer better water pressure.

Joe Pokorny, the deputy CEO for operations of SCWA, explained that the area has had low water pressure during times of high demand during the past five to 10 years because of new development popping up. The area is at a high elevation, he noted, and the higher the elevation the lower the water pressure.

To compensate for the growing demand due to the new houses that have been built, the area is now being served by a higher pressure water main as of earlier this month.

“It was fairly complicated to do this, but we felt that there were enough people impacted that it necessitated doing it,” Mr. Pokorny said. “From what we gather it was successful, and we helped a number of people that were complaining about low pressure.”

The effected area is between Cedar Point Lane and Long Beach Road. Mr. Pokorny said it is in a SCWA low-pressure zone, while to the west and the east—where the elevation is lower—there are intermediate zones. To increase pressure, valves were closed or opened to allow in water from a higher pressure water main. But to ensure that residents to the north by the shore who naturally have high pressure would not be subject to very high pressure—causing “water hammer” and potential leaks—SCWA installed a pressure regulator.

“According to our engineers, it all makes sense the way it was done, and it should address the issue,” Mr. Pokorny said.

Meanwhile, work is underway on a new pump station on Deerfield Road with two new wells.

“That is going to supply water to the north when it’s all done,” Mr. Pokorny said. “We’re going to put a water main in that goes to Noyac Road.”

The new pump station will bring extra capacity to the intermediate areas of Noyac, where demand has grown because of development, he said, noting that SCWA has been working on the project for a half dozen years or so, a process that has involved obtaining land from Suffolk County and developing it.