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Even bigger increase here: My typical water bill is only $40 per quarter, except for the one I get in Sept which is usually between $45 and $50 depending on whether we got a scorching heat wave and so I needed to water some of the newer plants. So the upcoming $20 increase will be essentially a 50% one for me.
No inground pool or inground sprinklers here. With the exception of the aforementioned occasional heat wave, the plants and grass need to survive just on what Nature provides. It does help that lawn area is a mixture of grass, clover, violets and some other wild plants. It does get mowed, but not watered or fertilized.
It's all relative though. I have friends in California and also in several southern states who have to accept $100/month water bills as a fact of life and can't believe our water has been so cheap and plentiful.
Same for us, even lower. Stony Brook Water is about $11- $12 in the off quarters, low $20 in the summer. No inground sprinklers, no pool. Some sprinkling and a daughter home from college for the summer account for the increase in bill. I haven't (yet) received the notice about the $20 per quarter increase.
Get ready because it's only the start. The water situation on LI is grim. It didn't have to be this way, but like with so many aspects of life on LI, your elected officials have failed you. Over-development and ridiculously dense housing has put huge demand on the artesian-wells that tap the aquifer. In some areas, this is leading to salt water incursion and lower water levels. I believe the SCWA lies about the pollutant levels, that millions of people are being put at risk because of this. With pockets of industry that created plumes, look at all of the gas stations that originally had those leaky tanks filled with MBTE-laced gasoline. Chemicals like MBTE stick around for years.
Take a drive out past Exit 62 on the LIE and you'll soon see what's left of the pine barrens. The pine barrens, some of the last open space on LI, was the aquifer's recharge basin. It basically filtered fresh water that would leach down into the aquifer. Well now notice how many high-density housing developments and senior care facilities have gone up, how many sand mines and waste yards inhabit this area. That's truly horrifying.
Nassau County is already talking to NYC about 'buying' water from the municipal source, a hugely expensive idea, but one that may be the only way out.
It is ridiculous that despite knowing that chemicals (not just the current 'emerging' crop) have been making their way into the aquifer for decades, politicians green light high density housing and have made little headway into a sewer system for all of Suffolk.
This explains the aquifer system in lay terms. It's 5 years old, so I am not sure if the percentage of water used from two of the aquifers has changed much. If anything, I would expect useage from the Uper Glacial Aquifer to have decreased.
It is ridiculous that despite knowing that chemicals (not just the current 'emerging' crop) have been making their way into the aquifer for decades, politicians green light high density housing and have made little headway into a sewer system for all of Suffolk.
This explains the aquifer system in lay terms. It's 5 years old, so I am not sure if the percentage of water used from two of the aquifers has changed much. If anything, I would expect useage from the Uper Glacial Aquifer to have decreased.
"The Lloyd Aquifer: The formation is approximately 70 - 144 million years old. The age of the water in the Lloyd may be as much as 2,000 years old on the north shore to 8,000 years old beneath the south shore of Long Island."
Natural, fine-aged aquifer water from before the time of Moses, from the source to your home to be served with some fresh lemon slices and paired with a fresh brie.
Just got the 4th quarter SCWA bill, total is $45.28 and it includes a paragraph on the bill itself as an "Important Message" about the upcoming $20 additional charge.
The bill shows the usage in CCF on the front but on the back of the bill it also shows the usage in gallons as well as the breakdown of the total:
Basic service of 5/8" meter $27.91
11.44 CCF [8557 gallons] @ $1.5180 per CCF $17.37
Total: $45.28
Long Island's water providers will have more time and money to treat for emerging contaminants under state regulations proposed Tuesday and $120 million in grants announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
The regulations would allow water districts to apply for waivers of up to three years to meet drinking water standards for 1,4-dioxane, a likely carcinogen used at industrial sites and found in trace amounts in cosmetics and household products. The waiver would also apply to perfluorooctane sulfonate [PFOS], found in firefighting foams, and perfluorooctanoic acid [PFOA], found in nonstick and stain-resistant products.
Cuomo also announced grants of up to $15 million for treatment at 37 Long Island wells, all of which currently exceed the proposed drinking water standards for the chemicals, which have been linked to cancers and other health effects.
The grants, which will cover up to 60 percent of costs for water treatment, will go to the water districts of Bethpage, Carle Place, Dix Hills, East Meadow in Hempstead, Franklin Square, Garden City, Garden City Park, Great Neck North, Greenlawn, Hicksville, Jericho, Manhasset-Lakeville, Mineola, Oyster Bay, Plainview, Port Washington, Roslyn, Southern Farmingdale, Westbury, West Hempstead, Western Nassau County, South Huntington and the Suffolk County Water Authority.
The latest grants and proposed waivers are a win for Long Island water districts, who have said they would lose insurance coverage and customers' trust by knowingly providing water that violated state standards. They also said their ratepayers would be saddled with the entirety of costs that could total as much as $1.5 billion, including $840 million for 1,4-dioxane.
South Huntington Water District is going to be getting $715K; SCWA will get $12,600,000. Any bets on whether that upcoming $20-month SCWA surcharge will be reduced? (Surely I jest, LOL)
On a more serious note, not sure if I'm crazy about the problem taking even longer to be addressed than it would have been. Oh well, can't have one's cake and eat it too, I guess.
And wasn't the "Mystic Pines" Condo Complex at the corner of Union Ave and Manor Lane in Bay Shore built on a site that was formerly some sort of aircraft plant?
That's at Manor & Orinico and its last use before becoming housing was a tire manufacturing or distribution point. Probably polluted as hell underneath.
Sounds like they're gonna put retail shops on the Dzus property, so nobody will have to live there. Just don't buy anything edible.
That's at Manor & Orinico and its last use before becoming housing was a tire manufacturing or distribution point. Probably polluted as hell underneath.
Sounds like they're gonna put retail shops on the Dzus property, so nobody will have to live there. Just don't buy anything edible.
Thanks for clarifying that, I do remember the property being manufacturing/industrial before condo's.
Good advice on Dzus as well, LOL...
I think there is now another Townhouse complex on the northwest corner of Nesconset Highway and 111. Do I remember an old derelict hospital being demolished on that site correctly?
I just finished watching the HBO miniseries "Chernobyl" on DVD...
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