Immediate Response Required from Non-Responsive Residents
Residents within the project area have been contacted numerous times regarding field investigation work via door hangers, letters and physical visits to their properties. If you haven't responded to any of the correspondences made by the Design Team or Suffolk County, we urge you to contact the Design Team ASAP to allow them to complete field investigation work on your property. Without that information, the connection to your property cannot move forward, and the property wil not be included in the project. If you do not act now to take advantage of the chance to have the sewer connection completed for free, you risk having to pay the cost of connecting to the sewer system and abandonment of existing cesspools yourselves after the grant-funded project is completed Please keep in mind, the only purpose of the field investigation work is to obtain information needed to design the sewer connection.
You can provide the field investigation team information regarding your property through one of these methods:
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Visit the "Property Owner Questionnaire" link above or click here to complete the property questionnaire online
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Contact Ms. Doreen Lines at 516-579-3112 as soon as possible to schedule an appointment.
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Submit information regarding your property by completing the questionnaire (click here to print) and delivering it to your Legislator's Office at:
Legislator Rudy Sunderman
1120 Montauk Highway, Suite G,
Mastic, NY 11950
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Local businesses discuss sewer system with project team
Business operators and commercial property owners turned out on September 10 to hear more about the Forge River Watershed Sewer Project and what it means to them. (See a Q&A on commercial properties.)................
Open house updates residents on sewer referendum
With the public referendum on the sewer project fast approaching, more than 100 residents attended two open houses to learn more about the January 22 vote. If the question passes, the Forge River Watershed Sewer District will be established; a sewer district must be created in order for the sewer project to continue. A highlight of the January 8 event at Mastic Fire House was the display of a typical six-foot grinder pump unit, which will be installed at residential and commercial properties.
Your Questions Answered (Actual questions posed by community members)
Why does our community need a sewer system?
A. Decades of nitrogen pollution from outdated, poorly functioning or broken septic systems and cesspools have contributed significantly to polluting the Forge River and groundwater in the Mastic-Shirley area. Read More...
Suffolk County Legislator Rudy Sunderman (left) and county Department of Public Works Deputy Commissioner Eric Hofmeister speak with residents.
Hundreds of residents attend Public Information Sessions
More than 200 Mastic community members turned out to learn about the latest developments on the Forge River Watershed Sewer Project..........
•Decades of nitrogen pollution from septic systems,
cesspools, agricultural uses and runoff have degraded
surface and ground waters.
•Poor water quality hurts our coastal resiliency,
environment, economy, land values, tourism industry
and recreation.
•Long Island’s tidal wetlands play a critical role in
protecting against storm damage. Nitrogen pollution
is the leading cause of wetland, sea grass and
salt-marsh loss.
•Most of the nitrogen pollution in the Great South Bay comes from unsewered homes of which Suffolk has 360,000, more than the entire state of New Jersey.
•Constructing a sewer system in the Mastic-Shirley area
is a major step toward cleaning up our rivers, bays
and underground water.
• The first two phases of the Forge River Watershed
Sewer Project are expected to hook up many homes
and businesses and safely treat millions of gallons of
waste annually.
• The project is expected to reduce nitrogen by 70% in
the Forge River, the most severely polluted water way in
Suffolk County.
• Combined with sewer projects in three other priority areas, harmful nitrogen pollution
in the Great South Bay is projected to be reduced by 25%.
Community members come out for new information meetings
As the design process for the project continues, dozens of residents attended a series of follow up informational meetings on September 20. Questions about property owner costs and benefits of sewers were high on the list of topics raised by residents........
Suffolk County Coastal Resiliency Program
Suffolk County, in cooperation with the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and state Environmental Facilities Corporation, has begun its first major investment in advanced wastewater treatment in decades. The projects propose to extend sewers to communities along the Great South Bay that have substandard septic systems, dense populations, a short depth to groundwater, and short travel times for nitrogen-enriched groundwater to enter rivers and bays. Extending sewers is a crucial factor in helping these communities continue recovering from the devastating impacts of Superstorm Sandy.
Learn more about how the county and state are working together:
Suffolk County Coastal Resiliency Projects
Suffolk Water Quality Initiative Program
Forge River Watershed Sewer Project