Fire hydrants are like mushrooms that sprout from the miles of mycelium underground pipes. We don’t see ground water until it pops up in creeks, pond, lakes, and marshes. These, to me, are astounding. The word awesome is overused, so I’ve going to overuse an new term. The fact that we have water pressure because of elevated tank reservoirs is why the fire department can turn on hoses and we can turn on faucets.

I toured the Suffolk County Water Authorities lab complex in Hauppauge. The bottle lab, the pathogen lab, the volatile compounds lab, the herbicide, pesticide  testing lab and the museum with valves, photographs, pipes, geology, and history. Astounding.

Lab supervisor Francesco, who oversees the Volatile compounds lab showed us gas chromatograph machines that can pinpoint harmful, cancerous molecules to parts per trillion said with pride that the lab holds itself to the highest standard. He smiles and says “New York State’s lead level is 15 ppm. We hold it at 5ppm”. This tells me that the Suffolk County Water Authority has our back. We’ve got probably the purest water in the state. Nothing escapes the blue lab-coated chemists who wear latex gloves while they titrate, look under microscopes, and tend to their computers. These lab rooms are the reasons why we have safe potable water all the time.

With 1.5 million Suffolk residents and 800,000 cars, thousands of cess pools, millions of opportunities for chemicals to leach into the water table, the Water Authority has to monitor its over 250 wells on a regular basis. That’s a lot of small sterile plastic bottles. When they see something, they say something. Protecting the public is their highest priority. Let me say it again…astounding.

Water air and soil are probably the post taken for granted resources that we are in contact all the time. We are 70% water. I love to see water in the clouds and ocean waves as well as my adopted Sampawams Creek. The creek’s water quality is impared. This is not astounding.

The 700 employees work behind the scenes. They maintain over 300 miles of pipe. Let me say it one more time in capitols …ASTOUNDING!