Update 1/15, 11 a.m.
Riverhead Sewer District Superintendent Tim Allen told the Riverhead Town Board at its Jan. 15 work session that at around 10 a.m. Wednesday, contractors working on encasing a main sewer line at an East Main Street construction site noticed a break in the line, which was leaking into the ground.
He said his crew was able to stop the flow 45 minutes later, and installed equipment to bypass the sewage around the break.
He said the effluent from the pipe had spread into the ground surrounding the leak, which occurred in an area where the ground is naturally saturated with groundwater, though the area around the line had been dewatered for the work. He said dewatering pumps may have taken the effluent into the watering box.
Mr. Allen said the Suffolk County Health Department and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had been notified, and the Health Department “took some samples from the river just in case” contaminants in the effluent reached the river. He said results of those samples are expected in three to four days.
“This was an isolated incident and I am cautiously optimistic that no further remediation will be required,” said Riverhead Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin.
Original Story Follows:
The Suffolk County Department of Health Services issued an advisory to residents late Wednesday afternoon “to take precautions before recreating on the tidal portion of the Peconic River (east of Grangebel Park) this week due to the possible residual effects of approximately 10,000 gallons of untreated wastewater being discharged into the river stemming from a pipe break in the Town of Riverhead Sewage Treatment Plant conveyance network.”
Pictured Above: In Riverhead’s Grangebel Park. |. file photo
“Corrective actions to mitigate the discharge were immediately implemented and the break in the pipe has since been repaired,” says the Health Department. “Suffolk County Health officials are working closely with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which has jurisdiction over the permitting and enforcement at the facility and with the management at the Riverhead plant.
“Contact with waters in this tidal portion of the Peconic River should be avoided,” according to the Health Department. “If contact does occur, rinse off with clean water immediately. Seek medical attention if after exposure you experience nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, skin, eye or throat irritation, or allergic reactions or breathing difficulties.”
We will update this post with more details as they become available.
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