New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle have passed a (3) bill package to promote water quality protection on Long Island. The bills passed both houses of the State Legislature by overwhelming margins. They will be submitted to the Governor in the coming weeks for final action.

The three bills are as follows:

A.6314/S.4812- This legislation authorizes the enactment and enforcement of local laws requiring the monitoring of groundwater impacts resulting from mining or the reclamation of mines within counties with a population of one million or more which draws its primary source of drinking water for a majority of county residents from a designated sole source aquifer (Suffolk and Nassau County).

A.9979/S.7853- This legislation clarifies existing law by authorizing the use of Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund (CPF) funds for the construction of public water mains and connections to provide drinking water to inhabitants whose drinking water supply has been contaminated by toxic chemicals, hazardous substances or emerging contaminants.

A.10445/S.8254- This legislation authorizes any Town in the Peconic Bay region to establish a septic system replacement loan program using water quality improvement monies from the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund. The Towns may require the loan made under the septic system loan program to be repaid by the property owner through a charge on the real property benefitted by such loan. Such charge shall be levied and collected in the same manner as town taxes. All revenues received by the town from the repayment of loans shall be deposited in the CPF Fund. Towns will be authorized to use a combination of grants and loans to incentivize septic system upgrades.

Assemblyman Fred Thiele stated, “All levels of government are working together to address the problem of declining water quality on Long Island, as we see increasing incidents of contamination from sources as diverse as sand mines, nitrogen, and emerging chemicals. The State Legislature must provide not only money but other tools to combat the continuing health threat to our water resources. Increased water quality monitoring, extension of public water, and nitrogen reduction through septic system upgrades are all steps to restoring our water quality. We urge the Governor to give these tools to our local governments.”

Senator Ken LaValle said, “We continue to focus our efforts on keeping Long Island’s waters pristine by enhancing monitoring and enforcement measures, providing the access to CPF funds for drinking water purity measures and implementing innovative programs to enable more septic systems to be updated with the newest technologies.” He continued, “These tools represent important new steps in the right direction for water quality for the East End. I urge the Governor to sign the measures into law.”