Zeldin requests EPA funds to bring public water to homes near the former Grumman site in Calverton

Rep. Lee Zeldin is seeking federal funding to bring public water to homes near the former Grumman plant in Calverton that rely on private wells.

Zeldin has requested more than $7.2 million in Community Project Funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s State and Tribal Assistance Grants program to assist the Riverhead Water District to provide public water for homes in the Manorville community, according to a spokesperson for the congressman. He has also requested more than $6.6 million to assist the Suffolk County Water Authority to provide public water to homes in the Manorville community located in Brookhaven Town, a spokesperson for SCWA said.

Riverhead Supervisor Yvette Aguiar did not return a phone call seeking comment. Councilman Frank Beyrodt, town board liaison to the Riverhead Water District, said Community Development director Dawn Thomas, who identifies and applies for grants and other funding sources on behalf of the town, drafted a letter to Zeldin signed by town board members, asking the congressman for the EPA funding.

Some private drinking water wells in Manorville and Calverton, in proximity to the former Grumman site, have been found to be contaminated with the perfluorinated compounds PFOS and PFOA as well as MTBE and other chemicals.

Residents in affected areas of Manorville and Calverton within the Town of Riverhead have been seeking public water service, but extending water mains to serve those areas has been cost-prohibitive, according to officials.

Zeldin, along with U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, has called on the Navy, which formerly owned the Calverton site, which it leased to Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman Aerospace), to assume responsibility for the cost of extending public water to homes near the site.

The funding in question is for a low interest or zero interest loan administered by the New York Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which is the only option available to all applicants, a Zeldin spokesperson said this afternoon.

“Congressman Zeldin continues to pursue all possible methods of payment for remediation to get these residents clean drinking water as soon as possible, including the Navy directly covering the costs,” Zeldin spokesperson Jacob Murphy said.

Grumman manufactured and tested fighter jets and equipment for the Navy at the Calverton site from the 1950s to the mid-1990s. The Navy has not accepted responsibility for any off-site contamination and is still investigating the extent of contamination and its potential sources.

“This is good news for us,” said Manorville resident Kelly McClinchy, who has been advocating for public water in Manorville for years. “Now we wait and see if the money actually comes.”