Sag Harbor Gets $1.25M Sewer Grant

The Village of Sag Harbor was granted $1.25 million in federal funds that will help pay for its sewer service expansion project that previously was awarded funding from the towns of Southampton and East Hampton.

An estimated 84 parcels will be connected to the village’s water water treatment facility, resulting in nitrogen loading to area surface waters in the Peconic Estuary being reduced by an estimated 4,855 pounds annually, officials said. The federal grant represents about half the cost of the project.

Sag Harbor Village Mayor Thomas C. Gardella called it “an issue that is very critical for all residents.”

The project is a part of a Suffolk County-wide initiative to expand sewer service to reduce the amount of nitrogen leaching into local waterways from antiquated septic systems that experts blame for widespread algae blooms known as brown tides that have decimated the local shellfish population for decades.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation classified the Peconic Estuary as a priority waterbody that is a focus of efforts to protect water quality and improve the health of aquatic communities, fishing, and shellfishing industries, public health, and water-dependent industries such as recreation and tourism, officials said.

“Ensuring access to clean water and improving our local infrastructure must be a top priority,” U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Rocky Point) said in announcing the funding.