Proposition 2: Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act

Sep 1

On November 5, 2024, Suffolk County voters secured a clean water future as they helped to pass Ballot Proposition 2, the Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act. This act will create a long-term fund to finance critically-needed septic system replacements and wastewater infrastructure.

Suffolk County is sustained by the waters that surround us. We swim, fish, and boat in our bays and harbors and get our drinking water from the sole source aquifer beneath our feet. We’re drawn here by spectacular beaches, idyllic parks and preserves, and are nourished by local farms and fisheries. But our way of life is at risk due to pollution in our water.

Scientific research shows that nitrogen pollution from untreated sewage is suffocating our bays and harbors and is in our drinking water. The harmful effects of excess nitrogen are far reaching—from beach closings, fish kills, and harmful algal blooms to possible linkages to cancer. Restoring clean, healthy water requires drastically reducing nitrogen pollution from its main source—380,000 nitrogen-polluting cesspools and septic systems.

This new fund will be paid for by an 1/8-of-a-penny increase to the county sales tax, which amounts to just 12.5 cents per $100 purchase. The fund will only be used to pay for septic and wastewater improvements in Suffolk County, including tax-free grants for homeowners who replace their failing septic systems with clean water technology. This makes wastewater infrastructure affordable for residents and businesses.

Establishment of the fund will also help unlock federal and state funding to help with clean water projects right here in Suffolk County. These projects will restore our local bays and harbors, create thousands of good jobs, and revitalize business districts. The Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act will safeguard our way of life, improve public health, and protect the waters we depend on.

Prop 2 Fact Sheet

Paid for by Vote Yes for Clean Water and Jobs

History of the Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act

Over the last 50 years, research has told us repeatedly that the most significant, widespread, and controllable problem negatively impacting the quality of Suffolk County’s bays, harbors, and freshwater bodies is the inadequate treatment of human waste.

But there’s good news. Today’s high-tech septic systems can significantly reduce the overabundance of nitrogen that flows into East End waters every day.

For the past ten years, the Group, working with a broad coalition of clean water advocates, has been pressing Suffolk County to address its biggest and most challenging environmental problem. We have pushed relentlessly for a comprehensive wastewater strategy, proper updates and reforms to wastewater regulations, the advancement of new technology, and a stable and recurring revenue source to appropriately fund the program over time.

Thanks to your support, there’s more good news. The Group’s longstanding efforts have largely paid off. Over the last decade, Suffolk County has developed a sound, fact-based, science-driven plan to tackle the issue.

But how do we pay for a wastewater improvement program of this magnitude? Eventually, approximately 380,000 individual septic systems must be replaced and many sewage treatment facilities in more heavily developed areas must be expanded. It will take years.

Fortunately, the Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act, written by the East End’s New York State (NYS) Assemblyman, Fred Thiele, was carefully structured to provide long-term funding for wastewater improvement. Key aspects of the plan include financial accountability, transparency, and protection against the redirection of funds to other programs. This important legislation was part of the governor’s 2023 budget bill and approved by the NYS Senate and Assembly. Once adopted, the bill granted the Suffolk County Legislature the authority to let voters decide if they want a stable and recurring revenue source dedicated exclusively to water quality infrastructure. The proposed funding mechanism calls for a 1/8-of-one-cent increase in the county sales tax until 2060. That minuscule amount, $1.25 for every $1,000 spent by consumers, is expected to generate over $4 billion over the 35-year life of the program.

If approved, more grants would be available for East End homeowners to offset the cost of replacing their septic systems—for decades.

Overwhelming support to include the measure on the November 2023 ballot was clearly demonstrated through public hearings and a diverse coalition of community, civic, environmental, business, construction, and contracting advocates.

Unfortunately, the 18 members of the Suffolk County Legislature could not agree on a final bill as they debated concerns over the funding allocations between sewer projects and individual onsite septic systems, and the individual needs of their districts. With the matter unresolved by the end of 2023, debate ended.

However, newly elected Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine committed to getting the job done in 2024, and shortly after taking office, he renewed the discussion with state and county legislative leaders and a final agreement, with very minor modifications from the original proposal was reached in early February. These negotiations set the stage for final action on the most comprehensive county-wide water quality and restoration program in more than four decades.

Most importantly, the final decision to proceed will be placed in the hands of Suffolk County voters in November, ensuring that the voice of the public will always be an integral part of decisions we make about the health of our environment and preserving our way of life here.

If you vote in Suffolk County, we need your help more than ever to get people to the polls in November and cast their vote for a clean water future.