Serious water quality issues continue to arise across Long Island, where health concerns from decades-old landfills and aging sewage treatment plants persist while emerging technologies like battery energy storage systems create new environmental problems.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) today announced awards for eight new bulk energy storage projects and 13 large-scale renewable energy projects. Combined, these projects are expected to provide 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of new large-scale energy resources, create more than 1,000 family-supporting jobs and generate over $3.7 billion in private investment. This reinforces New York’s commitment to the development of locally-produced clean energy, energy storage, grid resiliency and economic development.

On a small crescent of shoreline just off the road to Jones Beach, unruly stacks of sandbag fortifications lay slumped on the narrow beach. Most of the hundreds of bags were split and disgorging their contents onto the damp sand below; others were half-buried by overwashed sand.

More than one-third of Long Island schools had at least one water fixture used for drinking or cooking that exceeded the state's standard for lead, according to a new report.

Across Nassau and Suffolk, 1,031 of 22,345 fixtures tested — about 4.6% — exceeded the state standard of 5 parts per billion for lead levels in school drinking or cooking water, according to a study conducted by the Environment America Research & Policy Center, New York Public Interest Research Group and Frontier Group.

Brookhaven faces a November deadline to fix plans for cleaning up a toxic plume south of the town's landfill after the state faulted them for containing a series of errors.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation said it could not accept Brookhaven's draft report outlining five potential cleanup proposals. In an Aug. 5 letter to the town, the DEC said Brookhaven's plan was riddled with factual and mathematical errors.

A coalition led by New York River Watch says the proposed regulations on leachate management is an important step, but New York must close loopholes and stop the perpetual cycling of toxic pollution.

ingston, NY — More than 100 organizations and 700 individuals have urged New York State to strengthen proposed regulations governing the management and treatment of landfill leachate as the public comment period comes to a close on September 9, 2026.

Mary Fontana doesn’t trust the water that comes out of the tap in her upstate New York home. Nor do most of her neighbors in Tupper Lake, an Adirondacks village where she is mayor.

“When I’m putting my kid in the bathtub at the end of the night, when the tub fills up with rust-colored water, it’s really hard to look at that and not think that you’re doing some kind of harm,” said Fontana, who has pushed the state for help cleaning up her village’s water.

Citizens Campaign for the Environment Executive Director Adrienne Esposito discusses concerns related to  per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Environmental groups and state lawmakers are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign legislation that would lower New York’s allowable PFAS levels in drinking water from 10 parts per trillion to 4 parts per trillion.

A bill aimed at strengthening drinking water protections in New York is now awaiting action from Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and local officials are calling on the U.S. Navy to expedite cleanup efforts at a former development site and of  a toxic groundwater plume that is inching toward the Peconic Bay.

Schumer appeared in Calverton Thursday to call on the U.S. Navy to resume testing of the plume at Enterprise Park after the Navy pushed back a deadline 10 years to 2039, to conclude its assessment and come up with a plan to clean up contaminants from the former Grumman weapons plant.