The Suffolk County Water Authority says Southold’s aquifer can barely meet rising demand — and while plans to build a pipeline from East Marion to Orient remain years away, officials say the project may ultimately be unavoidable.
At a public scoping session in Southold Thursday night, many residents expressed concerns over inducing new development, described extensive ongoing conservation efforts and urged the water authority to extend the comment period beyond June 25. Others — including Orient well owners and a former Greenport mayor — said the pipeline isn’t just inevitable, but essential.
On Monday, SCWA officials announced that the period for public comment on the initial environmental assessments for the project would be extended to July 11. Previously, officials had set the public comment period would end on June 25.
“Residents had asked for more time to digest this, and we were happy to oblige,” said Dan DuBois, an SCWA spokesman.
‘There isn’t enough water’
“I want to make it very clear from the start,” said SCWA CEO Jeff Szabo. “There isn’t enough water in the Southold aquifer … to meet current demand.”
Szabo said SCWA now serves more than 10,000 customers in Southold, and that demand is surpassing supply — driven by rising water use over two decades and a growing number of annual accounts.
“There isn’t enough water for fire protection. There isn’t enough water for emergency services, fire hydrants, hospitals, pressure in your homes,” he said. During peak demand from June to September, “you’ll notice in the early morning hours your pressure will decrease.”
According to U.S. Census data, Orient’s population rose 34% between 2010 and 2020 and while 2025 Census results aren’t available yet, the town is projected to have grown another 15% to 30% since 2020.
Szabo said Phase One of the project — a pipeline from Flanders to the Riverhead-Laurel line — is a “distribution system improvement” expected by 2030. Phase Two, extending from East Marion to Orient, “may never happen,” he said, adding that there are currently “no plans to extend a water main to Orient.”
He said the environmental impact statement is being conducted to assess water needs across the North Fork as a whole, and to avoid piecemeal environmental reviews.
SCWA officials said the broader water system is under stress from growing demand and contamination threats to the North Fork’s shallow Upper Glacial Aquifer, which remains vulnerable to pesticides, herbicides, “forever chemicals” and excess chloride. In the summer, peak demand increases the risk of saltwater intrusion into the freshwater supply.
“The plan we’re talking about tonight addresses a lot of those concerns by moving the water we need into Southold, then taking the existing wells out of service, allowing the aquifer to replenish and restore itself, and having more water, long term, available to farms and others that aren’t connected to the water authority,” Szabo said.
During peak periods, he added, “all our elevated stores [of water], all our wells are running at full capacity. All of our tanks that store water are draining down to a couple feet.”
He described the strain as so serious that officials “have heart attacks because we’re concerned we may have a failure, may not have enough water to fight a fire or supply a hospital.”
The agency is conducting its own environmental review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and is currently preparing its environmental assessment forms as the first step in the state-mandated process.
Public comments on this early phase of the environmental review will now be accepted until July 11. Aspects of the plan are outlined on the authority’s website, and comments can be registered here. Written comments can also be mailed to Joseph Pokorny, deputy CEO for operations, Suffolk County Water Authority, P.O. Box 38, 4060 Sunrise Highway, Oakdale, NY 11769, or emailed to joseph.pokorny@scwa.com.
Transparency and oversight
Many of more than a dozen residents who spoke Thursday night questioned the pipeline plan, citing data gaps, construction logistics and local government involvement.
Southold Supervisor Al Krupski urged SCWA to wait for the results of a local water study commissioned by the Orient Association and a 600-foot test well recently drilled by the U.S. Geological Survey.
“Shouldn’t we be using that data … to determine the actual volume and condition of the salt water?” he asked. “It’s going to be very informative as to water quality and water quantity and also the location of the chlorides.”
Krupski also pressed for coordination on roadwork and drainage, saying that Southold Town has “done a tremendous amount of drainage and road work in the town. It’s a continuous effort and we want to make sure any road work efforts and drainage work will be coordinated in a project of that size.”
SCWA Director of Operations Brendan Warner said construction would occur in the off-season and, if necessary, during night hours. But Joel Klein of Mattituck noted a contradiction in the authority’s own environmental assessment documents, which state all work will occur during the day.
“So you’ve got a contradiction there,” Klein said, adding that at 300 feet per day, just the Northville Turnpike and Sound Avenue stretches of Phase One would take five months.
Anne Murray of the North Fork Environmental Council questioned why Southold Town and its trustees weren’t listed as “involved agencies,” a designation that would give them a stronger role in project oversight.
Town Board member Greg Doroski also pushed for more engagement.
“How does the water authority plan to engage with municipalities in the areas impacted … whether it’s with our comprehensive plan, planning department, town board?” he asked.
Doroski — a Democrat running this fall for Suffolk County Legislature against incumbent Republican Catherine Stark, who also attended — suggested that “the towns could be considered super stakeholders here in that we’re charged with balancing the costs and benefits of these projects.”
Katie Stokes of Southold asked whether SCWA had explored the use of gray water —wastewater from sinks and showers that hasn’t been contaminated by toilet waste — for irrigation as an alternative to the pipeline. Jeannette Dumas asked if strict irrigation limits could eliminate the need for a new main.
Bob DeLuca of the Group for the East End noted that SCWA’s online comment portal allows only 500 words per submission.
SCWA Deputy CEO Joseph Pokorny pushed back on fears that new infrastructure would lead to increased consumption.
“We can’t jam more water into Southold,” he said. “There’s no place for it to go, no tanks, no reservoirs. All we’re trying to do is meet demand. If we close wells, we have to replace the water. There will be no net increase of consumption of water in Southold Town as a result of this pipeline.”
‘What are we supposed to do?’
Some in the audience voiced strong support for the project.
Former Greenport mayor Dave Kapell praised SCWA’s stewardship since taking over Greenport’s water system in 1997.
“They’ve done an outstanding job of improving the quality of our water by investing in modernization, treatment and expansion,” he said.
Kapell called fears of induced development a “false narrative.”
“Clean water should not be held hostage to the fear of development,” he said. “We would ignore this offer at our peril and risk undermining the health and safety of residents, the strength and viability of our business and agricultural sectors and our ability to provide emergency services in the event of a major fire.”
Orient homeowner Peter Schembri said his well is contaminated with perfluorooctyl bromide (PFOB), a so-called “forever chemical,” prompting Suffolk County health officials to tell him not to drink, cook with or shower in the water.
“You can’t cook the chemical out of the water,” he said. “I can’t drink the water. I can’t boil the water. I can’t shower with the water, they’re telling me. So what are we supposed to do?”
Schembri described the pipeline as “the future of Southold.”
“It’s not about us. It’s 10, 20, 30 years down the road … we’ve got bigger problems than sprinklers, or building an extra house. It’s about our families, the future of those families. I want my kids to come out. I want my family to bring my grandkids out. But you know what? I can’t even look at them straight in the face and tell them to come out with a clear conscience. I’m making coffee with bottles of water every day.”
The North Fork Civics and the Greenport Civic Association are holding a follow up meeting about the pipeline on Monday, June 16, at 6 p.m. at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on Main St. in Greenport — with featured speakers including DeLuca and Louise Harrison of Save the Sound Long Island.