Cutchogue Elementary Awarded $5K Water Quality Challenge Grant

CUTCHOGUE, NY — Cutchogue East Elementary School was one of only two schools in Suffolk County awarded a $5,000 grant to help protect water quality on Long Island.

The school received the grant from the Long Island Regional Planning Council as part of the Long Island Water Quality Challenge — a STEM competition that encourages students to reduce runoff and nitrogen pollution on school grounds and incorporate those projects into ongoing educational programs, a release said.

The check was presented at a ceremony at the elementary school held in front of a biorentention area that will use soil, plants, and microbes to treat stormwater before infiltrates soil or is discharged, officials said.

School representatives were joined by Richard Guardino, executive director of the LIRPC; New York State Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio; Elizabeth Cole, deputy executive director of LIRPC; Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski; and Southold Town Government Liaison Officer Denis Noncarrow.

The other school awarded a $5,000 grant in Suffolk County was Accompsett Middle School, in the Smithtown School District, officials said.

The Long Island Water Quality Challenge was first unveiled in 2019 to all schools in Nassau and Suffolk Counties serving grades 6,7 and 8, asking students to develop and design projects for their school grounds that will either reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides as well as water consumption — or to create methods to collect and treat water runoff from the school property, a release said.