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Water issues dominate Dering Harbor meeting

JOHN CLARE PHOTO Lingering light over Dering Harbor.
JOHN CLARE PHOTO Lingering light over Dering Harbor.

The Dering Harbor Village Board met on Saturday, August 18, with the primary focus on the village’s water system.

The Suffolk County Water Authority, which has been operating and maintaining the system since June, provided the board and residents an overview of improvements as well as recommendations for the future.

“They did a very good job of highlighting various steps that have been taken to make the system better,” said Shelter Island Town Engineer John Cronin, who sat in on the meeting at the invitation of Trustee Patrick Parcells. “They laid out what they are seeing now as well as possible needs for the future.”

“The recommended upgrades include metering,” according to Mayor Betsy Morgan, “which will be pretty easy to get in place by next summer.”

This week, the village’s new water tank will begin to be filled slowly in order to make a smooth transition.

“They also recommend digging two smaller wells to replace the village’s older well,” the mayor said, and possibly replacing Well #2, which had been dug too deep, resulting in saltwater intrusion.

“We’ve already seen improvement,” Ms. Morgan added, “and we have faith that we’ve righted the ship and are on the right path. I was very impressed with the extent of SCWA’s knowledge, and with their in-house labs and their engineering staff we’re quickly seeing results.”