In 2022 the Orient Association embarked on a comprehensive study of Orient’s water resources: fresh, salt and waste. It's finally complete! Our hope is that this report informs the community about how our water ecosystems work, presents hard data about those ecosystems, sets up the challenges and opportunities unique to Orient, and offers some options for the future. We invite you to join us on this deep dive into Orient’s waters!
Suffolk County Water Authority presented a public scoping session about the proposed North Fork Pipeline project which would install a 24" pipeline from Flanders, though Riverhead and connect to SCWA's water system in Southold. A proposed second phase would run a 12" extension from East Marion across the causeway and primarily serve residents of Orient Village.
The Orient Association hosted a Forum on saltwater intrusion on Sunday, October 27th at 2pm in Poquatuck Hall. The ongoing water study points to sea level rise and saltwater intrusion as a substantial threat to the Orient community. Speakers Frederick Stumm, Research Hydrologist, from the US Geological Survey and Greg Nissen from Mermaid Water Solutions will share their knowledge of recent changes in the saltwater levels in coastal areas and how to handle them.
The OA Water Committee recently met with consultants at CDM Smith to discuss present and future recommendations that the community should consider to sustain the health of our water resources. While the consultant has analyzed historical data from private well testing performed by Suffolk County Department Health Services, we did not have much information about how folks in the community are coping with issues of contamination and reliability. Here are the results of our October 2023 survey.
