10K gallons of raw sewage spill into LI river, although health officials claim everything is OK: ‘No smell, no odor’

Roughly 10,000 gallons of raw sewage unloaded into the Peconic River during a construction mishap at a Long Island apartment complex — but local officials claim there’s no need for a cleanup.

A broken sewer pipe at a Riverhead construction site spilled dirty waste into the Peconic River for over 45 straight minutes last Wednesday, prompting the Suffolk County Department of Health to issue a safety advisory to stay out of the water at Grangebel Park.

But despite the warning, Riverhead Sewer District Superintendent Tim Allen told the town board Thursday night that any type of cleanup was unnecessary — claiming toxins had already seeped into the ground. 

Riverhead Sewer District Superintendent Tim Allen told the town board Thursday night that no need for cleanup was necessary. littleny – stock.adobe.com

“There was no cleanup because it saturated into the ground,” Allen said.

The superintendent told the board that he didn’t see “anything” but “clean groundwater” flowing into the river when he checked the filtration box setup to collect runoff at the construction site. “No smell, no odor,” Allen said.

The broken pipe was replaced within an hour, and officials from the Suffolk Health Department and the state Department of Environmental Conservation later took samples from the river, with results expected to be released this week, Allen said. 

Environmental activists argued that it’s far too early to dismiss the threat and warned that even short-term sewage discharges can have lingering effects in slow-moving waterways like the Peconic — especially during colder months when bacteria can persist longer.

“[The government] really needs to keep an eye on this, they can’t just say no harm, no foul — that amount of raw sewage can certainly cause major problems,” John Di Leonardo, the president of Humane Long Island, told The Post. 

A mishap at a construction project in Riverhead caused thousands of gallons of sewage to spill into the Peconic River. Steve Cukrov – stock.adobe.com

The raw sewage leak could cause a slew of issues, including algae blooms, botulism — a rare illness caused by a nerve toxin — and could even cause harm all the way up the whole food chain, according to Di Leonardo. 

But until the state and county’s reporting on the river’s water samples comes back, there is no way of knowing for sure what the impacts will be, he said. 

Suffolk officials did not say how long the advisory would remain in effect or whether additional testing would be conducted.

Riverhead officials also did not disclose whether any action would be taken against the contractor responsible for the sewer line break, or if the developer could face penalties.