The Jericho Water District is seeking a serial bond for improvements to four wells across the district.

The proposed bond’s total is nearly $54 million and would rely on the rate payers of the district, not the taxpayers, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said during the board’s Tuesday, Oct. 27 meeting. If passed, the bond would go toward improvements for Well No. 3, Well No. 4, Well No. 27 and Well No. 28, the district’s representative, Bill Merklin, president and CEO of D&B Engineers and Architects, said during the meeting.

“These funds are essential to implement vital water quality treatment and infrastructure improvements,” Merklin said. “The highest priority of the district is delivering an uninterrupted, high-quality drinking water supply that meets all the federal and state public health requirements.”

He said those requirements include the state’s sanitary code relating to 1,4-dioxane and the United States Environmental Protection Agency regulation that relates to PFOS, or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, which is known as a “forever chemical” that can cause an elevated risk of kidney and testicular cancer, among others, according to the National Cancer Institute. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has also classified 1,4-dioxane as a likely human carcinogen.

Merklin said the cost of the projects includes $30,250,000 for Well No. 3, $17,600,000 for well four and $19,572,000 for the combined projects of Wells No. 27 and 28 since they share the same location.

The entire cost of the project amounts to about $67.4 million, but Merklin said the district has obtained $13,572,000 in funding, including $5 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was awarded by the state’s Department of Health in October 2025, Merklin said.