Water Reuse Plan Announced For LI Wastewater Treatment Plant

WEST BABYLON, NY – A new wastewater treatment plan is coming to the Bergen Point Wastewater Treatment Plant in West Babylon, Presiding Officer Kevin J. McCaffrey and County Executive Ed Romaine announced on Thursday.

The plan calls for internal usage at the plant and for irrigating the adjacent Bergen Point Golf Course, one of four 18-hole courses — all on or near the major water bodies of Long Island — operated by Suffolk County.

"This project will let Bergen Point be known for helping water quantity, as well as water quality. This is a great step forward to see if we can effectively take the wastewater and, instead of letting it flow into the ocean, use the effluent for irrigation and other purposes to help recharge the aquifer and reduce the nitrates in our water," McCaffrey said.

This project and the many expected to follow are a direct result of the adoption of the Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act, penned by Presiding Officer McCaffrey, and the approval by Suffolk residents of a long-term effort to expand and upgrade Suffolk County’s aging wastewater infrastructure.

In the 2024 elections, voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 2 to grant the County the authority to establish a new, stable, and long-term funding source for wastewater improvement projects, and extend the current ¼ sales tax which funds water quality initiatives and open space acquisitions, according to McCaffrey's office.

Officials joining McCaffrey and Romaine in support of water reuse efforts and the Bergen project included Deputy Presiding Officer Steven Flotteron, Legislators Anthony Piccirillo, Catherine Stark, Tom Donnelly, and Ann Welker, Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer, Seatuck Environmental Association Executive Director Enrico Nardone Senior Conservation Policy Advocate John Turner, and Deputy County Executive Jennifer Juengst, and Suffolk County Commissioner of Public Works Charles Bartha.