Suffolk strikes a good deal for clean water
Score one for cleaner water — finally. A proposed major wastewater treatment plan, unveiled Monday, that would bring much-needed sewers and high-tech septic tanks to Suffolk County is good news for both the environment and county residents.
This turns around last year’s failure by the GOP-led county legislature to approve a similar plan. Newly-elected Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, a Republican, made a revised wastewater plan one of his top priorities. He helped iron out a deal with legislators intending to get it on this November’s ballot for voter approval. The deal includes a Suffolk sales tax increase of 0.125% to fund a $4 billion, 50-year wastewater treatment plan to reduce the amount of nitrogen pollution in Suffolk’s underground water supply and its waterways. State legislation must be passed in Albany before sending the plan to voters.