Southampton Town Approves Amendment To East Quogue Drinking Water Eligibility Program

Some East Quogue and Quogue Village residents with contaminated private well water now will be able to switch to clean public drinking water for free.

The Southampton Town Board held a public hearing for an amendment to the East Quogue Drinking Water Eligibility Program at a board meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

After a brief discussion with Assistant Town Attorney Kathleen Murray, the board decided to adopt the changes to the program, clarifying the criteria of eligibility, as there was some confusion with the program’s original proposal.

Suffolk County began conducting an investigation of the possibility of well water contaminants back in April 2018. The findings were high levels of PFOS and PFOA contaminants in private well water in the East Quogue area.

Residents within the contaminated area on a map constructed by the Suffolk County Health Department will be able to connect to public water and would be reimbursed by the town via Community Preservation Fund revenue.

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said that for those in the highlighted area — that is, roughly between Lewis Road in East Quogue and Quogue-Riverhead Road in Quogue — the town will try to provide reimbursement for the costs of hooking up to public water, though there is only a certain amount of money allocated to the program for the town to work with.

The Suffolk County Health Department estimates that approximately 117 residences in the defined area that are currently using private water drinking supply will be eligible to switch to public water.

“Anybody outside of that in the vicinity of East Quogue or the Village of Quogue, if they have water test data that shows that they are being impacted by those chemicals, we will also assist them in connecting to public water,” said Mr. Schneiderman. “If someone is thinking of doing it, they should do it sooner rather than later, while the funds are available.”