SCWA Southold Scoping Session Summary – June 12, 2025

Summary

Suffolk County Water Authority presented an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) public scoping session about the proposed North Fork Pipeline project which would install a 24″ transmission line 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 to primarily serve residents of Orient Village.

The public is invited to send their comments and questions to SCWA, and these will be considered as the Draft EIS is prepared. Questions and comments should relate to environmental impacts and may be best expressed as requests for SCWA to study and document important issues relating to environmental concerns.

The SCWA presentation at Southold Recreation Center was well attended and SCWA accepted numerous questions from the audience.

Orient

The SCWA presentation regarding Orient was brief.

Key points:

• The Orient extension was included in SCWA’s environmental scoping for regulatory reasons, but they are unsure whether it will ever be built. If built, it would follow phase 1, the Riverhead section, which is projected to be completed by 2030.
• Potential public water would be confined to Orient Village (see map below.)
• Expansion into Orient would require input from “affected residents”, referring to those residents affected by PFAS/PFOS contamination.
• “Affected residents” would cover the cost of the pipeline extension. There was no estimate of the actual costs or who would be considered “affected.”

Presentation Video and Slides

A complete video can be viewed below and the presentation slides can be viewed here.

Local Media Coverage

Local newspapers have covered the proposed North Fork Pipeline:

• East End Beacon
• Suffolk Times
• The North Fork Sun