Residents Start Petition Opposing Suffolk Water Authority Fee

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY - Local residents have expressed their opposition through an online petition following the announcement that the Suffolk County Water Authority will be adding a $20 quarterly fee.

Recently the company stated the board approved the fee starting January 1, 2020. The fee will cover the cost of developing and operating treatment systems for 1,4-dioxane and the perfluorinated compounds PFOS and PFOA. The fee comes after the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, performed a study which found six contaminants exceeding its health guidelines and 40 total contaminants across the water supply between 2012 and 2017.

"Our mission is to provide our customers high quality water that is constantly tested at the lowest possible cost," SCWA Chairman Patrick Halpin said in a statement. "When the state takes action to remove 1,4-dioxane, PFOS and PFOA from Long Island's groundwater, SCWA will be ready to continue to fulfill that mission."

However, many residents oppose the additional fee. A group called the Concerned Suffolk County taxpayers started a petition on Change.org to try and stop the fee.

"Our concerns are that once this authority opens the door these additional fees when will it stop? Will the fees end once the system built and running? If there is no state law now why build this system to begin with, what happens if the requirement doesn't become law?" the petition reads.

However, the SCWA is anticipating New York State's pending regulation of the contaminants. The regulation of 1,4-dioxane at 1 part per billion and PFOS and PFOA at 10 parts per trillion, was recommended last year by the New York State Drinking Water Quality Council, and is expected to be announced by state officials at any time, according to the SCWA.

If the regulations are put into place, the SCWA will need to put into service 56 new advanced oxidation process (AOP) treatment systems and 20 granular activated carbon (GAC) systems. The cost of installing and operating those systems is expected to cost over $177 million over the next five to six years.

In response, the petition claims that the group believes that funding the project can be done "without the authority-which answers to no one-charging this additional fee."

"Further there have been taxes and fees applied to both brown paper bags which the county collects and plastic bags at retailers which instead of creating a revenue for government to apply to towards the environment are sent to the retailers," the petition reads.

The online petition is looking to reach 100 signatures. As of Monday, 37 have signed.

What do you think?