The town has applied for a grant for stormwater mitigation at Seawanhaka Place in Oyster Bay hamlet. Seawanhaka Place is an approximately 500-foot road that dead ends in a cul-de-sac at the southerly shore of Oyster Bay Harbor.

The problem being addressed by the grant, explained Town Supervisor John Venditto, is that, "From the surrounding two-acre watershed area, it receives storm water runoff, which is discharged without treatment into the harbor.

"With partial funding from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund, engineers designed a treatment system that will divert some of the runoff into a system of leaching wells, which will reduce the contaminant loading delivered into the harbor," Supervisor Venditto said. "The town is applying for a 50-50 matching grant in the amount of $23,600 under the Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act to help defray the cost of construction of the system."

The supervisor said the proposed project involves the installation of a system of four leaching wells and associated piping to capture the first half-inch of runoff that drains into Oyster Bay Harbor from Seawanhaka Place. This system will divert the initial drainage into the shallow aquifer, which will provide filtration for the removal of various contaminants prior to eventual discharge as ground water underflow into the harbor.

"Oyster Bay Harbor is one of the last viable shellfishing harbors on Long Island, and my town board colleagues and I are committed to protecting this valuable marine resource," Supervisor Venditto stated. "The Seawanhaka Place runoff remediation project will be a major step in preserving and enhancing the water quality in the harbor."