State officials and the Food and Drug Administration are using a water-tracing dye to track Patchogue's wastewater in order to protect consumers of shellfish harvested in waters off Long Island's South Shore.
On March 25, wastewater from the Patchogue wastewater treatment plant will be treated over a period of 12.5 hours with low concentrations of dye, as part of a study to understand the treated effluent discharging into the Patchogue River and Patchogue Bay.