PEP is allocating $600,000 of BIL Funds towards Meetinghouse Creek Wetland Restoration

Background

The 2.61 acre Town of Riverhead property is bordered by the Aquebogue Cemetery to the west and private property to the east and south, including the Crescent Duck Farm downstream of the site. Meetinghouse Creek is one of many small tributaries that drain the North Fork of Long Island to the Peconic Estuary. The area has been settled and farmed since the 1600s, resulting in a heavily modified landscape and drainage patterns.

The topography north of the project site is gently undulating with local depressions that appear to collect and infiltrate stormwater runoff but no discernable surface water drainage channels. Stormwater inlets alone Church Lane and Main road collect runoff that discharges into the project site.

Meetinghouse Creek forms part of the “Meetinghouse and Terry Creek and Tributaries” segment of the Peconic Estuary. The waterbody segment was listed as impaired for dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and pathogens on NYSDEC’s list of impaired waterbodies.

Sources: PEP

Meetinghouse Creek Stormwater Wetland and Habitat Restoration Project

Goals:

Improve water quality in the Meetinghouse Creek watershed through the storage and treatment of stormwater runoff.
Increase the ecological quality of existing freshwater wetland habitat
Improve plant and wildlife diversity at the site.
Invasive species control, specifically the infestation of the invasive Phragmites
Stormwater management and flood control
Sediment Management
- Sediment testing detected a number of contaminants that exceed state thresholds for the protection of ecological resources.
- Excavated material will therefore be removed off site and disposed of at a licensed facility.
- Wetland soil will be replaced with clean material to support native plant growth.

The hydrologic design for stormwater treatment consists of sizing and the following elements:

A deep water forebay for pretreatment, retention, and ease of maintenance
Low‐ and high‐marsh areas for water quality treatment
A micro-pool for retention, water quality treatment, and ease of maintenance
Permanent erosion and sediment control accommodations to provide protection to the interior and exterior components during the 2‐year event
An outlet structure to control normal pool elevation, drawdown of the Water Quality Volume, safe discharge during the 10‐year event, and safe discharge during the 100‐year event.