Centerport Beach Advisory Shows What Stormwater Records Can—and Cannot—Prove

Suffolk County issued an advisory against bathing at Centerport Beach and Huntington Beach Community Association Beach on July 6, 2026, after heavy rainfall. The county said the advisory was based on the potential that bacteria levels exceeded New York State standards in beaches influenced by stormwater runoff and located in enclosed embayments with limited tidal flushing.

Centerport is a hamlet in the Town of Huntington, Suffolk County. Centerport Beach and Huntington Beach Community Association Beach are separate facilities; the county listed both under Centerport in its rainfall-related advisory.

What the county notice said

Suffolk County’s Department of Health Services included the two Centerport beaches in a 64-beach advisory issued July 6. The notice said affected beaches were in areas heavily influenced by runoff from surrounding watersheds or adjacent tributaries. Because the waters are in enclosed embayments, officials said they experience limited tidal flushing.

The county advised residents to avoid bathing and other water contact until the affected waters had been flushed by two successive tidal cycles and at least 24 hours had passed after the rain ended. The notice said the advisory was expected to be lifted Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at 11:59 p.m., subject to those conditions.

That was a rainfall-related public-health advisory, not a permanent closure. It also did not identify a particular Huntington stormwater installation as the cause of the advisory. News 12 Long Island separately reported a runoff-related advisory and listed both Centerport beaches.

What Huntington says the bioswale is intended to do

The July advisory does not, by itself, establish whether Huntington’s stormwater projects failed, succeeded or changed conditions during the storm.

Town records say Huntington completed a rain-garden bioswale at Centerport Beach with a stated objective of filtering 80 percent of stormwater runoff at the site. The Town describes the project as addressing runoff that has polluted Centerport Harbor. The 80-percent figure is a project objective, not a measured result from the July 6 rainfall.

The wider Centerport watershed system

Huntington’s documented Centerport Harbor work began in 1996, when the Town submitted a proposal for a state nonpoint-source stormwater mitigation grant intended to reduce bacteriological loading in Centerport Harbor.

The Town says one project served Centerport sub-watersheds near significant shellfish resources and the Huntington Beach Civic Association beach, which it described as providing swimming and recreation facilities serving more than 1,000 residences. That grant allowed the Town to install leaching catch basins and Stormceptor technology, which the Town says traps oils and other floatable material and allows sediments to settle for later removal.

Later work added catch basins, leaching basins and associated piping in the Centerport watershed. The Town’s project history lists installations north of Mill Dam Road, near Harvest Hill Lane and Fleets Cove Road, and in the Knollwood Beach/Fleets Cove sub-watershed. It also lists Stormceptor sedimentation collection basins serving Centerport areas including Adams Street, Beach Place and Keith Court.

The Town’s March 2026 Stormwater Management Program Plan places those projects within a broader municipal program that includes public reporting, annual reporting to the state and periodic assessment of stormwater-program goals. The plan describes a framework for managing runoff and compliance; it does not provide a post-storm performance assessment for the July 6 advisory.

What remains unknown

The public records reviewed for this article do not establish how the Centerport Beach bioswale, catch basins, leaching basins, Stormceptors or connected piping performed during the July 6 storm. They also do not establish that the advisory was caused, prevented or reduced by any particular Town installation.

For swimmers, beach users, nearby residents, shellfish interests and local recreation, the practical message is that heavy rain can temporarily make Centerport-area waters unsafe for contact even when no permanent closure is announced. Residents should follow current county health notices and avoid water contact until the applicable clearance conditions are met.

Because the July 8 date was an expected lifting time in the July 6 notice, it should not be treated as a statement about beach conditions on August 3, 2026. The unresolved accountability question is what future post-storm monitoring can show about conditions at individual beaches and the performance of the infrastructure intended to protect Centerport Harbor.

Sources

• Suffolk County Government — Advisory Against Bathing at 64 Beaches
• Town of Huntington — Upgrades to Stormwater Collection Systems in the Bay Complex
• News 12 Long Island — Beach advisory issued across Nassau and Suffolk after possible elevated bacteria levels