WE DO NOT WANT THE SUFFOLK COUNTY LEGISLATURES TO VOTE YES ON ALLOWING HEARTLAND DEVELOPMENT TO HOOK UP TO THE SOUTHWEST SEWER DISTRICT AT BERGEN PT. - Each member of a SUFFOLK COUNTY family of voting age, can sign using their email address. PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITION. 

Why we don't want Heartland to hookup to the sewers:.

*Heartland Project is 9000 apartments PLUS 4.24 million square feet of retail and office space that is equivalent to 1 1/2 times the Empire State Building in sq ft and is planned to be built at Pilgrim State property where this land was deemed part of the Special Groundwater Protection Area ("SGPA").

If the Suffolk County Legislatures vote yes to allow this development to connect to the sewers then there is no recharging of our aquifers.  All the water used while showering, washing dishes, clothes and flushes of the toilet will go out to sea instead of recharging our water supply.  If there was a water treatment plant the water after 50, 100 or 250 years would be replenished and our water wells would potentially not dry up and our ocean levels wouldn't rise.

"Sewers and intense pumping have lowered the water table by a few feet in Nassau and Western Suffolk, diminishing or even eliminating many shallow streams and lakes and causing underground salt water to seep inland deep below the shorelines".  This quote is from a Newsday article from 2008 and therefore the water table is lowering even more with the hook up of new developments like the Ronkonkoma Hub.

"On Long Island a major goal of land preservation is the protection of the drinking supply.  The groundwater aquifer system is the sole source of drinking water for the nearly three million people who literally live on top of their water supply.  Because of the hydrology of Long Island, protecting open space in the North Shore provides the deep flow recharge necessary for the water supply in the south shore" Conversation News Summer 2007.

The Town of Islip didn't follow the Special Groundwater Protection Area and approved the rezoning of this land for phase one which includes 3500 apartments and 1.2 million feet of office and retail space.  The application for phase 2 and phase 3 will follow in years to come.

*If Heartland, hooks up to the Southwest Sewer District at Bergen Pt. they will take capacity away from local residents in that district even though they expanded, the residents in that district should take priority over an inland development.  We need to prioritize the land closest to the coast to protect our groundwater like South Sayville, South Oakdale and Great River.

Resolution No.1459 has FAILED.